Reference no: EM133345218

Nikolay Storonsky, a British-Russian entrepreneur, prides himself on straight answers. Despite conventional wis- dom, the co-founder and CEO of Revolut says that he has little time for work-life balance. According to him, the concept has no place while building a start-up, when the focus should be on competing with established and better-funded firms, attracting customers, and working with limited resources-on winning the "game."

After a funding round raised nearly €500 million, Revolut became one of the world's most valuable financial technology firms in 2020, with a valuation of €5 billion. It's an extraordinary achievement as it was founded just five years prior, has yet to make a profit, and lost €36 million in 2018. Fast growth has also brought problems. Revolut is grappling with the difficulties of finding and retaining the right staff as it transforms itself from a tiny, scrappy business into one with 2,000 employees, forecast to grow to 5,000 by the end of 2020.

The company has earned a reputation for a tough working environment where employees work long hours at the office, sometimes during weekends as well. Those in the tech start-up sector expect to work for long hours, but working at Revolut is known for being particularly demanding. Storonsky says that he is in the office from 8 am to 10 pm on a typical day. He dismisses the suggestion that his staff are overworked, but he acknowledges that he is demanding. "As you make the world better you will need to break walls," he says. "And to break walls you really need to try hard, and unfortunately trying hard means in many cases you need to spend time on it." He claims he has never come across a burnt-out employee and pledges to pay for a two-week holiday for any of his staff who feels overwhelmed by the demands of their job.

Nevertheless, one former executive claims to have left because Storonsky seemed to micromanage his senior management team and had little interest in his staff's work-life balance. "You can sacrifice your life," the execu-tive said. "But you can't do it forever."

Questions

1. What might be the potential sources of stress at Revolut?

2. Do you think Nikolay Storonsky's attitudes toward work-life balance are valid for start-ups? Why?

3. What could be the long-term consequences if Revolut's employees are expected to work long hours in a highly competitive environment?

4. What would you recommend to the company to manage stress?