James Watt, co-founder of the beer producer BrewDog, has drawn controversy by describing Britain as “one of the least work-oriented countries in the world” and questioning the nation’s focus on “work-life balance”.
Instead, the entrepreneur and his fiancée, the social media personality Georgia Toffolo, advocate “work-life integration”.
In a video posted on social media, Watt argued that “the whole concept of work-life balance was invented by people who hate what they do. So if you love what you do you don’t need work-life balance, you need work-life integration.” Although he deleted the original Instagram post, citing a torrent of abusive messages, Watt later shared new comments suggesting the negative reaction highlights a “low work ethic” in the UK.
Watt referenced research from the Policy Institute at King’s College London which found that Britons are among the least likely of 24 surveyed nations to say work is central to their life. He also cited statistics from the Office for National Statistics indicating UK output per hour is 13% lower than France’s. “As a nation, we love to joke about the French being lazy,” Watt noted, “but the reality is that our output per hour is lower than theirs.”
Pointing to the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ conclusion that Britain’s lack of growth in the last 15 years can be attributed to declining productivity, Watt said he was perplexed at the hostility to “someone sharing their approach to hard work.” He argued that if the UK cannot engage in a civilised conversation about work ethic, it could struggle to “compete on the global stage”.
Watt, who remains a non-executive director at BrewDog despite stepping down as chief executive last year, has previously faced scrutiny over BrewDog’s internal culture. Some former employees accused the company of fostering a “culture of fear” in 2021, prompting Watt to issue an apology and outline how the business had changed. Last year, BrewDog decided not to pay new recruits the real living wage, instead opting for the legal minimum wage—a move that triggered further criticism.
While his latest remarks have been met with a fierce backlash on Instagram, Watt noted that the response was more positive on LinkedIn. Georgia Toffolo, who joined Watt in the video, supported his stance on “work-life integration” by describing their shared “high-octane obsession” with their respective projects and businesses.