Fintech company CEO fires all HRs, says they were creating problems that never existed

US-based fintech company Bolt recently eliminated its entire HR department as part of a wider round of layoffs. Now, co-founder and CEO Ryan Breslow has defended the decision, saying the move was necessary for the company's turnaround and claiming the HR team was creating problems that did not exist.

In Short

• US-based fintech company Bolt recently scrapped its HR department
• The CEO says the HR team was “creating problems that didn’t exist”
• Bolt cut around 30% of its workforce, ended perks such as four-day workweeks

The US-based fintech company Bolt laid off its entire human resources department during a major restructuring exercise in April 2026. The move came alongside cuts affecting around 30 per cent of the company’s workforce. Now, CEO and co-founder Ryan Breslow is justifying the elimination of the entire department, claiming that the team was “creating problems that didn’t exist”.

Speaking at Fortune’s Workforce Innovation Summit, Breslow defended the decision to lay off the entire HR department, saying it was part of a broader turnaround strategy aimed at reviving the once high-flying fintech firm after years of declining valuation, layoffs and restructuring.

Breslow said that removing the HR function was necessary to make the company more agile and focused on execution. According to him, the issues he associated with the HR department disappeared once the team was let go.

“We had an HR team, and that HR team was creating problems that didn’t exist,” Breslow said during a conversation with Fortune. “Those problems disappeared when I let them go.”

Breslow founded Bolt in 2014, and the company quickly became one of the fastest-growing fintech start-ups in the US. However, he stepped down as CEO in 2022. Following his departure, the company’s fortunes declined sharply, with multiple rounds of layoffs as Bolt struggled to regain momentum. Breslow returned to lead the company in 2025 and has repeatedly described the current phase as “wartime”, arguing that Bolt needs a start-up mindset rather than the structures typically found in larger organisations.

While defending the decision to remove the HR department, he acknowledged that HR professionals play an important role in mature companies but suggested their approach was not suited to Bolt’s current circumstances.

So how is the company operating without an HR department? Instead of a traditional HR team, Bolt now has a smaller people operations group responsible for employee support and mandatory training. Breslow has previously argued that people operations teams help managers make faster decisions and reduce bureaucracy. He reiterated at the conference that Bolt needs employees who are focused on execution and results rather than internal processes.

The CEO also criticised what he described as a culture of entitlement that developed during Bolt’s rapid-growth years. According to Breslow, many employees became accustomed to generous benefits and abundant resources but were not delivering the level of performance required in a tougher business environment.

“There’s a sense of entitlement that had festered across the company,” he said, adding that many employees “weren’t actually working hard”. He claimed that after giving workers hired under the previous leadership team 60 days to adapt to a leaner start-up culture, the vast majority failed to do so, leading the company to replace nearly its entire leadership team.

As part of the restructuring, Bolt also ended policies such as four-day working weeks and unlimited paid time off. Breslow said the company had to return to a more “gritty” operating model focused on survival, efficiency and execution.

Today, Bolt reportedly employs around 100 people, significantly fewer than during its peak years. Despite the smaller workforce, Breslow argues that the company is performing better, with faster customer response times and improved employee engagement. He claims customers are receiving a level of attention they had not experienced in years.

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