Home Depot founder doesn’t want leading ‘Woke Generation’ business

• Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus insists he doesn’t want the leading business of the “wake up generation.”
• He told Fox Business that “nobody wants to work anymore” because of “laziness” and government benefits.
• Home Depot has distanced itself from Marcus, saying he hasn’t worked at the company in 20 years.

Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, 93, who retired in 2002, says he doesn’t want the “wake-up generation” leading the business, arguing they would spend money “we don’t have” on climate mitigation and not . focus on the bottom line.

Speaking on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co” On Thursday, Marcus, who no longer has any day-to-day stake in the company, said: “I certainly don’t want to see the awakened generation emerge, especially the leaders.”

He said he had been following the Annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos “and they are recommending spend more money on climate control when we don’t have it. We have already overspent. And if anything, climate control has caused most of the problems we have today.”

Marcus did not elaborate on what he meant. Europe’s energy crisis stemmed largely from its dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

“We need leaders who are basically thinking about shareholders and their employees,” Marcus added. “And I think nowadays it’s all about awakening diversity, things that don’t reach the bottom line.” Marcus provided little evidence for these claims.

A report 2020 by consulting giant McKinsey & Company found that companies with more diverse leadership are more likely to report higher profitability.

Marco, who was a major donor to Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, he also spoke about the job market, saying people “don’t want to work.”

“You can’t hire people,” he said. “Nobody wants to work anymore, especially office people.”

Marcus said the reason people didn’t want to work is that “they have the right, everything is given to them,” adding that government unemployment benefits They pushed people to stay home.

“So you get this laziness… and it’s basically a socialist society,” he said. Marcus also said people wanted to work “three days a week,” possibly referring to the growth in demand for flexible work during the pandemic, as well as the recent push for a four day work week.

marcus did similar comments in an interview with the Financial Times in December.

the mantra “No one wants to work anymore” it has gained traction during the pandemic, with some bosses using the phrase as a scapegoat for why they are struggling to recruit staff. The workers, in turn, say that low wages, poor benefits, and poor working conditions they are the reason they have been changing jobs and waiting for better offers.

The pandemic caused a big change in the way people think about work. Office workers realized the benefits of working remotely and flexible hours, especially for those with caregiving responsibilities. Staff in low-paid, customer-facing roles such as fast food and cleaning. they were at higher risk of contracting COVID. People reconsidered what they wanted from their careers, and some used the pandemic as an opportunity to retrain for new roles.

All this caused dropout rates in the US to reach record levels in 2021, although levels are slowly falling.

The civilian labor force participation rate, the share of the working-age population that is employed or actively looking for work, plummeted at the start of the pandemic. data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. shows Although still below pre-pandemic levels, the participation rate increased from a low of 60.1% in April 2021 to 62.3% in December 2022.

BLS data shows that nonfarm job postings hit a record 11.86 million in March 2022, but have since fallen to 10.46 million in November.

“How do you have a recession when you have people who don’t want work? “Marcus said during the interview on Thursday. “There are many jobs out there.”

“Bernie Marcus retired from The Home Depot more than 20 years ago and does not speak on behalf of the company,” Home Depot told Insider in a statement.