Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary tells Bill Maher workers are 'never coming back' to the office, and that's 'okay'

published 13 November 2021

A record number of Americans quit their jobs in September, in the latest data point of the Great Resignation, and Shark Tank cohost and venture capitalist Kevin O'Leary told Bill Maher on Friday's Real Time that the remaining workers who are staying put have decided working from home is the new normal.

Based on the response from his companies, "they're never coming back," O'Leary said. "Well, doesn't that tell you something about how much they must have f--king hated the office to begin with?" Maher asked. O'Leary offered a more positive explanation.

"They have proven to everybody all around the world that they can use technology to do their jobs successfully and creatively, functionally, productively, and they want to stay at home, and raise their kids, take care of their elderly parents," O'Leary said. "And in fact if you say to them, 'You have to come back to the office, that's our new mandate,' they'll say, 'Nah, I'm just gonna quit and work somewhere else.' So we thought it was 15 percent, we have a sample size of about 10,000 people in our supply chain plus our companies," he said, and it isn't just cubicle workers, "it's everybody. They don't want to come back. And so we have to learn to live this way, and I'm okay with it. It works. I find it really interesting."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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