CEO video goes viral with potshots at ‘quiet quitting’ workers and breadwinning mothers

Another day in business, another viral CEO spray. This time it was James Clarke, CEO at Clearlink, the digital marketing and technology firm based in Utah.

Depending on your point of view on a number of things – Clarke managed to cover a lot – it might be the most unusual and offensive one yet. 

Andi Owen, CEO at furniture giant MillerKnoll, went viral earlier this week in a leaked company meeting video. In it, Owen lectured staff on focusing on sales and success, not their staff bonuses. And of course last year, ‘crying CEO’ Braden Wallake kicked off the trend with his candid LinkedIn selfie complete with a statement around company layoffs – and the personal impact they have had on him.

Clarke focused on the shortcomings of remote work and the company’s decision to force employees within a 50-mile radius back to the Utah office, in the video obtained and first reported by Vice. 

He praised the sacrifice of one staffer who sold the family dog to enable the office return, to which he said, “breaks my heart as someone who’s been at the head of humanisation of pets movement in other businesses we’ve built.”

He went on to take potshots at remote work that are sceptical and based on questionable data at best, paranoid and downright offensive at worst.

“Some have already quietly quit their positions but are taking a paycheck,” he claimed

“In one month this year I got data that about 30 of you didn’t even open or crack open their laptops and those are all remote employees including their manager, for a whole month.

“Some of our developers could be working for two different companies. We don’t know. We hope that’s not the case but we don’t know.”

Many content writers, he said, are now exclusively using AI to write; “I can do that in about 30 minutes of an eight hour workday.” Based on that, he said, staff should all be able to increase normal production by 30 to 50 times.

Clarke touched on the difficulties faced by parents in the move away from remote work, saying the issue of childcare was debated for hours and hours. “There were meaningful and tear-filled conversations.”

He acknowledged breadwinning mothers were hit the hardest by this pandemic. “Many of you have tried to tend your own children and also manage your demanding work schedules and responsibilities.”

What he said next is unlikely to win him many fans:

“And while I know you’re doing your best, some would say they’ve even mastered this art, but one could also argue that generally this path is neither fair to your employer nor your children. 

“Now I don’t necessarily believe that.

“But I do believe that only the rarest of full-time caregivers can also be productive and full-time employee at the same time.”

Clarke said he believes the “data” will support his opinions on this “in time”.

What makes Clearlink’s position on returning to the office particularly difficult is the fact that many current employees were hired over the past few years for “remote-first” positions. Clarke said in emails as recently as October that he had “no plans” to mandate in-office work, Motherboard reports. Clarke founded Clearlink in 2001, sold it a decade ago and then returned as CEO last year.