BrewDog founder James Watt says work-life balance invented by those who hate their jobs
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Watt and fiancee Georgia Toffolo spend time brainstorming business ideas together, they revealed. The founder and former boss of BrewDog, James Watt, believes that the concept of a work-life balance is one invented by those unhappy with their own careers and says people should instead aim to achieve “work-life integration”.
Watt stepped down from the day-to-day running of the beer-brewing company last year after 17 years, though retains his shareholding in the organisation and has a non-executive role of “captain and co-founder”. At the time of his departure he said he planned to “take a bit of time off, to travel, to spend more time with my family and friends”, while also saying he was aiming to “dedicate some more time to my other business interests”.
Prior to his departure, a number of former staff members had jointly signed a letter over “toxic attitudes” in the workplace and a “culture of fear” through Watt and co-founder Martin Dickie. BrewDog accepted and apologised for the incident and pledged to learn from the matter, though last year they were then criticised for backtracking on a pledge to pay real living wages.
“I think the whole concept of work-life balance was invented by people who hate the work that they do. If you love what you do, you don’t need work-life balance, you need work-life integration,” he said on a now-deleted Instagram post alongside actor and businesswoman fiancee Georgia Toffolo.
