A CEO Thanked An Employee Who Sold Their Dog To Return To The Office & The Video Is Unhinged

The CEO of a tech company is going viral for all the wrong reasons, after leaked video showed him scolding his staff and applauding one person who sold their dog in order to work from the office full-time.

James Clarke, the CEO of the Utah-based Clearlink digital marketing firm, made the comments during a recent virtual town hall with his employees which has since leaked online. The edited nine-minute video was initially shared with VICE and posted in various places online, although Clarke's company has been actively working to get the video removed via copyright claims.

"I challenge any of you to outwork me, but you won't," he says in the video.

The video shows Clarke boasting about past achievements, blasting staff who do not want to return to in-office work and praising other employees for sacrificing to help the company.

One of those sacrifices involved an employee who sold off his dog because of Clearlink's mandatory return-to-office policy.

“I learned from one of our leaders that in the midst of hearing this message, went out and sold their family dog which breaks my heart,” Clarke said. He added that that breaks his heart as someone who considers himself the “head of the humanization of pets movement."

"I honor you for those sacrifices," he said.

VICE reports that Clearlink made in-office work mandatory for those who live within 50 miles of its Utah headquarters, despite previously committing to a remote-first approach.

"I’m all in on what we’re doing here at Clearlink and I want you to know it and feel it because this is what we do, and I’ve sacrificed," he says in the video. "Those of you that are here have sacrificed greatly to be here as well, to be away from your family."

Clarke also suggested that some employees are not working hard enough, taking second jobs or even using artificial intelligence to do most of their work.

He went on to dismiss concerns that his return-to-work policy makes life harder on parents who now have to arrange for child care.

"While I know you’re doing your best, some would say they have even mastered their art, but one could also argue this path is neither fair to your employer nor fair to those children," he said, talking about full-time employees and caregivers, namely single mothers.

"I do believe that only the rarest of full-time caregivers can also be productive and full-time employees at the same time."

The video has sparked plenty of anger on social media, with many users criticizing the CEO for his comments and work culture. One Twitter user called him a "psychopath" while another called him an "a**hole."

"Who would want to work for someone like this?" wrote one critic on Reddit. "American work culture is the worst. We really need to take a cue from European work culture."

Another user claiming to be a Clearlink employee joined in the pile-on on Reddit.

"What sucks is that Clearlink used to be a genuinely great company to work for and a large part of that came directly from our awesome leadership and management," they wrote. "Those days are f*cking gone."

Clarke founded Clearlink in 2001 and sold it a decade later, but recently agreed to return as its CEO, according to a business column he wrote last year.

"While providing flexibility to our incredible employees is a great benefit that will be here to stay, I believe that a combination of some virtual but primarily an in-person environment is what we really allow for the best of business — and the best of people — to operate," he wrote in that column.

A spokesperson for Clearlink told VICE that the video involves "internal Clearlink business," and that the company switched to in-person work in order to reach its "collective goals."

"We look forward to having these team members join us at our new world-class Global Headquarters in Draper, UT, and appreciate the efforts of all of our committed team members – which includes those who work in office and those who will continue to work remotely – as we accomplish our best work together," the spokesperson said.