The Sam Altman-backed blockchain startup, Tools for Humanity, is facing scrutiny over its demanding work culture. Recent reports highlight that the company, which focuses on digital identity and blockchain solutions, expects employees to work weekends and be available at all times.

Tools for Humanity is known for its work on Worldcoin, a crypto platform that utilizes a device called the Orb, which scans a person's eyes to verify their humanness. The company launched the Orb two years ago with the ambitious goal of signing up two billion people. However, it has only managed to attract 17.5 million subscribers thus far.

CEO Alex Blania reportedly told staff at a company-wide meeting that they need to be fully devoted to their jobs or leave the company. According to Business Insider, Blania conveyed a clear message setting expectations for the staff. He stated that employees should care only about their work, and nothing else should matter. He further stressed that if anyone cares about something else or wants something else, they should just not be at Tools for Humanity. "We will neither fail, nor will we be an average outcome, and that's what we want and that's all I care about every day and all you should care about every day, and nothing else should matter," Blania said.

In February, a video from the company's former San Francisco office displayed the company's "team values" on a TV screen, according to Business Insider. The message emphasized the importance of their project for humanity, stating that employees should be ready to work on weekends and be available at all times. One message read, "We believe this is a once-in-a-lifetime project and that success is important for humanity. Therefore, we work weekends, we're always on call, and we push as hard as our circumstances allow us to. As a result, we defy the odds, get to escape velocity and succeed on the mission".

Blania emphasized that the company's mission is to build a global digital identity system that can verify who is human in an increasingly AI-driven world and that the company exists solely to achieve this goal, and everything else is a distraction. "We don't care about politics, we don't care about DEI, we don't care about anything, we just care about how can we achieve the mission through merit, performance, and excellence," Blania said.

The demanding work culture and emphasis on constant availability have drawn criticism, especially in light of the Orb's underwhelming performance. Some observers suggest that the company's "humanitarian mission" might be used to justify the intense expectations placed on employees. The demand for weekend work and constant availability increases the amount of unpaid labor performed by employees. This allows the company to spend less on the workers building the Orb.