Kevin O’Leary blasts Martha Stewart’s ‘rampage’ to end remote work

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Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has hit out at Martha Stewart’s “rampage” against remote work saying the “best talent” are done going back to the office.

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America’s most famous homemaker recently revealed she is on a “rampage” to get workers back to the office telling Footwear News magazine: “You can’t possibly get everything done working three days a week in the office and two days remotely.

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“Look at the success of France with their stupid … off for August, blah blah blah. That’s not a very thriving country. Should America go down the drain because people don’t want to go back to work?”

Stewart, 81, doubled down on the remarks during a follow-up appearance on Today With Hoda & Jenna, telling the hosts she “just doesn’t agree with it.”

“My kind of work is very creative and it is very collaborative, and I cannot really stomach another Zoom here, Zoom there,” the recent Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model said. “It just doesn’t get the work done in the right way.”

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And shortened workweeks don’t lead to increased output, the businesswoman insisted.

“It’s frightening because if you read the economic news and look at what’s happening everywhere in the world, a three-day workweek doesn’t get the work done, doesn’t get the productivity up,” she added. “It doesn’t help with the economy, and I think that’s very important.”

But O’Leary, 68, has dismissed Stewart’s criticism, telling Fox News that employees don’t want to work in “worn-torn” cities.

“The economy has changed radically. The problem with saying everybody has to work in the office is you won’t be able to hire the best talent,” O’Leary said. “The best talent told us, ‘If I have to come into an office and sit in a cubicle and drive for 45 minutes each day into a war-torn city like San Francisco … I’m not doing it. I don’t want to get shot on my way to work.’”

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“Mr. Wonderful” also cited increased crime as a reason many have retreated from the notion to travelling into the office.

“This is another problem, safety in large cities like Chicago, San Francisco, some parts in New York City, [and] L.A. these days,” he added. “Nobody wants to work in these places, they’re war zones, and so they want to work where they get their job done.”

The venture capitalist said that coming out of the pandemic he thought “15% wouldn’t return” to the office, but he was wrong.

“It’s 40. And here are the areas of the sectors of the economy that they are not returning. Accounting, compliance, financial services and logistics. These are the jobs that used to be in cubicles in the basement of corporations, particularly here in New York City. You can see about 50% of the offices that are B-grade are empty.”

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O’Leary predicts empty office buildings are “never going to fill up again.”

“They’re going to have to be converted into condos or climate-controlled storage.”

But more importantly, O’Leary says he has walked away from the notion of in-person work because he “cares about talent.”

“Frankly, if you say everybody has to come to the office, you’ll get the third-tier candidates … I want great team members. And if they tell me, ‘I don’t want to work in an office, but I’m number one at what I do.’ I’ll go with number one at what I do,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary — who is reportedly worth $400 million — also took issue with Tesla and Twitter owner Elon Musk, who called remote work “morally wrong.”

“People should get off the goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bulls—,” Musk told CNBC’s David Faber last month, adding that “the laptop classes are living in la-la land.”

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But O’Leary told CNN there was nothing wrong with the new reality.

“The world’s changed. The economy has changed. The ethics of work has changed,” O’Leary said.

On social media, Stewart’s comments stirred anger from work-from-home revolutionaries.

“Work from home has been the best thing that has happened to me in regards to employment,” one person wrote in a lengthy Reddit thread dedicated to the debate.

“Do CEOs like Martha Stewart have evidence to back up their claim, that working from home makes people unproductive? Because if their argument is based on their own bias, then it should be ignored,” another remote-work supporter added.

“Remote work cuts the BS, and a lot of bosses’ jobs are actually just BS,” a third critic swiped on Twitter.

“Oh, the Martha Stewart who uses sweatshop labour to manufacture her products and went to prison for insider trading?” another social media wisecracker sarcastically added. “That Martha Stewart? She’s saying what now…?”

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Twitter: @markhdaniell

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