Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé Kardashian All Agree, ‘Nobody Wants to Work These Days’
TL;DR:
- In an interview with Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé Kardashian, they all agreed, “It seems like nobody wants to work these days.”
- In the wake of the comments, Twitter users called Kim Kardashian out for using unpaid interns. Some also felt her remarks were derogatory toward working women in an ongoing pandemic.
- Some spectators pointed to previous allegations of wage theft against Kim Kardashian made by people who worked at her home as potentially deterring employees.
As Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé Kardashian disclosed in an interview with Variety, they all agree on this sentiment: “It seems like nobody wants to work these days.” As such, Kim Kardashian gave out her “best advice” specific to women in business — including to simply just “show up and do the work” to succeed.
Social media had a virtual field day with Kardashian’s comments. Some users took aim at the family for using unpaid labor through internships to help build their ultra-lucrative brand. Others pointed to a lawsuit against Kim Kardashian which alleged the cleaning and maintenance staff at one of her homes was overworked and underpaid.
On the other hand, fans waved off criticism of the Kardashians and their business practices as “corny” internet hate over the famous family’s success.
Kim Kardashian’s ‘best advice for women in the business’ is to ‘show up and do the work’
While being interviewed for Variety, Kim Kardashian gave out “the best advice for women in business,” according to her. “Get your f***ing ass up and work,” she declared.
“It seems like nobody wants to work these days,” she complained. And Kourtney Kardashian agreed, “That’s so true.”
Behind them, sister, Khloé, and their mom, Kris Jenner, nodded in seeming affirmation. “You have to surround yourself with people that want to work,” Kim Kardashian explained. “Have a good work environment where everyone loves what they do because you have one life.”
In other words, “No toxic work environments and show up and do the work,” she said.
Some Twitter users targeted Kim Kardashian for ‘doing literally nothing’
When Variety shared a link to the interview on Twitter, users shared their thoughts in the comments.
“Yes Kim, people are tired of working 30+ hours a week to earn 1/920 of what you get by doing literally nothing and signing your name to a product someone else developed,” read one reply which raked in tens of thousands of likes.
“Hating on someone because they’re successful is just corny,” another user argued in response.
But the conversation wasn’t just about perceptions of the ultra-wealthy family’s work ethic. Some pointed out the Kardashian-Jenner clan employs hard-working, unpaid interns.
Digital media professional, Celene Zavala, took to Twitter in the wake of the remarks by the Kardashians and wrote, “I worked my little college a** off for free for Kimberly. So I better get some addendum in here saying ‘except Celene, she was amazing.'”
Kim Kardashian deflected allegations of wage theft to a third party
In May 2021, seven former home maintenance and cleaning employees reportedly sued Kim Kardashian, alleging wage theft and other workplace violations. Per NBC, one employee claimed to have been fired in retaliation for reporting unlawful conditions.
Kardashian’s legal team responded by arguing she hired a third-party vendor who then hired the workers at her home. They contended she was therefore freed of legal responsibility for their work conditions.
Some observers pointed to the allegations as a potential deterrent for new employees. And, on a related note, Business Insider explained some misconceptions about the shifting workforce, including the notion people stopped wanting to work. It seems between more options and new outlooks in an ongoing pandemic, some jobs and employers lost their appeal.
