How hard can you get away with asking your employees to work? What if they think they\u2019re doing something deeply important for the future of mankind?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the messaging at the Sam Altman-founded eye-scanning company Tools for Humanity, which has been pushing for a culture of 24\/7 grinding in service of the startup\u2019s signature biometric verification tech.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very (very) hard working. We believe this is a once in a lifetime project and that success is important for humanity,\u201d read a corporate values slide deck displayed at a company office earlier this year, according to a video reviewed by and first reported on in Business Insider recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore, we work weekends, we\u2019re always on call, and we push as hard as our circumstances allow us to. As a result we defy the odds, get to escape velocity and succeed on the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
CEO Alex Blania has expressed a similar need for absolute dedication to the San Francisco-based company, which has framed its eyeball scanning orbs as a way to prove human identity in a society increasingly swamped with AI imposters. (Tools for Humanity\u2019s name speaks to both its big ambitions and big sense of its own importance.)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will neither fail, nor will we be an average outcome,\u201d Blania told staff at an all-hands event in January, per Insider\u2019s article. \u201cThat\u2019s all I care about every day and all you should care about every day, and nothing else should matter. If you should care about something else, and if you want something else, you should just not be here. It\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just a question of completely dissolving the barriers between work and life (although that\u2019s a big part of it, too). Blania also reportedly told staff that Tools for Humanity doesn\u2019t care about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts or politics, adding: \u201cWe just care about how (we can) achieve the mission through merit, performance and excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other corporate values espoused by the company include a lack or tolerance for \u201cslowness and comfort\u201d as well as having \u201cno place for talkers, ideology or politics\u201d and employees\u2019 feelings.<\/p>\n
A former employee told Insider that Blania wrote the values himself, and a Tools for Humanity spokesperson told the outlet that those same values have been responsible for building a team that\u2019s passionate about and focused on its goals.<\/p>\n
There have always been companies that expected a ton out of their employees, but it\u2019s been increasingly in vogue as of late, especially in the tech world, following Elon Musk\u2019s mandate that the work culture at Twitter \u2013\u00a0now X \u2013\u00a0become \u201cextremely hardcore\u201d in the wake of his 2022 acquisition of the legacy social media company.<\/p>\n
DEI and employee inclusion efforts have also fallen out of fashion in corporate America since President Trump\u2019s re-election.\u00a0\u2013 Inc.\/Tribune News Service<\/p>\n
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