CEO Axes Entire HR Team; EEOC Sues NYT, Both Defend Actions at Public Forum

(SeaPRwire) –   Good morning to you all!

Want a fast way to anger a group of people leaders? Inform them you’ve dismissed your entire human resources team.

That’s exactly what Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow shared at last week’s Workplace Innovation Summit, and his statements quickly spread across social media. “We once had an HR team, but that team was inventing issues that weren’t actually there,” Breslow told me. “Those issues vanished once I let them go.”

He made these bold comments just a month after laying off around 30% of Bolt’s staff, and at a time when there were reports that the company offered some employees equity instead of salary while leaving some contractors unpaid. Breslow rejected these allegations. He chose not to provide further details after our discussion, though his team directed me to a LinkedIn post noting that the fintech startup is recruiting HR leaders in Estonia and Hungary.

Breslow’s opinions on HR weren’t the only controversial topics at our summit. We also listened to Andrea Lucas, chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), who stood by her agency’s lawsuit against The New York Times. The lawsuit claims the newspaper unlawfully discriminated against a white male editor who was overlooked for a promotion in favor of a candidate with fewer qualifications.

I questioned if the lawsuit had political motives, especially in light of recent Times reporting that EEOC employees felt pressured to take on politically sensitive cases, even when there was minimal evidence. Lucas stated that she has confidence in the validity of every case she moves forward with.

“Civil rights ought to apply to everyone, and we’re expanding that scope,” Lucas told me. “But we will promote the president’s priorities because that’s entirely fitting as part of the administration.” You can view our complete conversation here.

Apart from those attention-grabbing moments, this year’s Workplace Innovation Summit placed a strong emphasis on AI and workplace transformation. A McKinsey partner forecasted that AI could redefine up to half of all work hours over the next five years. Workplace culture was also a key focus, with discussions covering everything from four-day workweeks to the organizational hurdles that pay transparency is bringing to light.

You can access our complete event coverage here. We’ll keep releasing additional conversations and insights in the coming weeks.

Kristin Stoller
Editorial Director, Live Media
kristin.stoller@.com