$14bn fintech Bolt quietly cut its 4-day work week. Now it's cutting staff
In 2022, Bolt founder Ryan Breslow said that the payments fintech had adopted the 4-day workweek and was "never going back." That statement has turned out to be false.
A Bolt spokesperson has confirmed to eFinancialCareers that Bolt no longer offers the benefit to employees, and that they instead work on a 5-day schedule. Insiders, speaking anonymously, said the benefit was removed over a year ago; reviews for the company on jobs forum Blind since then have referred to the 4-day week in the past tense. Curiously, the 4-day workweek remains on the perks section of the culture page of Bolt's website.
Now, more cuts are happening. Breslow recently became Bolt CEO again after stepping down prior to the implementation of the 4-day week. Taking to LinkedIn, Breslow said that he gave Bolt staff a 60-day window for people to "show what they're made of," in which there would be no cuts or job changes. He said that period ended this week and that "removals were made" already.
Breslow's goal is to get rid of all "B-Players" in the company. He said that "Keeping B players around while A players are executing destroys the morale of your A players." In an internal message to staff sent by Breslow, he encouraged those employees to "transition out immediately" from the company.
It's not just staff that are being cut. Breslow said in the message that "the luxuries [staff] have currently enjoyed will be on hold" until the company increases its revenue by $200m-300m. Specific examples he gives of such luxuries are company outings and Conscious Culture, an organization founded by Bolt to conduct experiments focused on improving workplace culture.
Breslow said in 2022 that a 4-day week keeps people energized and creative. His message to staff this week said that there have been "significant gaps in execution" and that "nothing else matters" but fixing those gaps.
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