Ryan Breslow, the CEO of tech company Bolt, is defending a controversial move after cutting roughly 30% of the company's workforce earlier this year, including the entire human resources team. He says many problems disappeared once he eliminated the HR department.

What happened?

Speaking at Fortune's Workforce Innovation Summit on Tuesday, Breslow said he got rid of Bolt's full HR team as part of a broader overhaul at the San Francisco-based company.

His explanation was direct: "We had an HR team, and that HR team was creating problems that didn't exist," he said. "Those problems disappeared when I let them go."

Breslow framed the decision as part of a reset. He said Bolt is "back in startup mode again" and argued that traditional HR made more sense during "peacetime" or at a larger company, as reported by the Hindustan Times. In place of the old department, Bolt will put in a leaner people operations team for training and employee support.

Breslow and Eric Feldman launched Bolt in 2014 to provide a one-click checkout solution for online sellers. But the startup has fallen far from its peak. According to the Hindustan Times, Bolt's valuation has fallen from $11 billion to about $300 million.

Why does it matter?

For workers, this kind of leadership message can land hard — especially after sweeping layoffs.

When a CEO describes HR as a source of unnecessary complaints and obstacles, employees may reasonably worry about what happens to their concerns, protections, and day-to-day support inside the company, as HR teams often serve as a formal channel for workplace issues.

The timing also makes the decision more notable. Bolt is not making this change from a position of stability. Instead, it's looking to recover after a steep drop in valuation. When a company facing financial pressure removes an entire department and cuts nearly a third of staff, the fallout is not abstract — it affects people's jobs, workloads, morale, and trust in leadership.

More broadly, the episode highlights how workers can bear the consequences of aggressive corporate decisions when companies chase turnarounds with aggressive speed.

What can workers do?

For employees and job seekers, moments like this are a reminder to pay close attention to how companies talk about workplace culture during periods of restructuring. Leadership language can offer clues about whether a business is building support systems for staff or treating those systems as obstacles.

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