CEO says anyone who works from home is grabbing groceries or at the vet 30% of the time—and shows off his busy office at Friday 5 p.m. to prove it

Just when you thought the dust had settled on the return-to-office wars, one startup founder has reignited the debate—accusing remote workers of sneaking off and doing life admin on company dime for a third of their working day. Serial founder Bridger Pennington panned his camera around an office full of people still at their desks on a Friday evening to prove his point that in-office working is more productive. “I get a lot of hate, but I’m a big believer for working in an office in person,” Pennington posted to his Threads account, where it’s racking up thousands of reactions. “You can look at the time, it is five exactly on the dock, and you can see everyone’s still working.” The Utah-based co-founder of the startups Fund Launch and Ugly Unicorn explained that, despite offering workers incentives to work in the office—including free dinners for anyone who stays past 7 p.m.—he still faces backlash for not letting staff work remotely. “You try that with your startup, go ahead. Good luck,” he bluntly responded to anyone pushing back on him. “I’ll bet your bottom dollar, Susan or Joe, whoever, on a Tuesday afternoon that’s working remote, 30% of the time they’re getting groceries, they’re running their dog to the vet, they got a kids dance recital—they’re not working, and you’re paying them full time.” The internet fired back—and some of them do run their own companies Pennington captioned his video, telling people to run their own company if they weren’t happy with his stance on in-office work. So naturally, founders came to his comment section to let him know they already do—and that their remote-first firms are thriving. “Seeing this while my team helps me run a successful company from their beds or the beach, in different continents,” one user—who says she runs her own company with an entirely remote, women-only team—commented. “No clocking in. No permission slips… I give them paid leave for periods because da