Zepto CEO Comments on Work-Life Balance Amid Viral Allegations

A Reddit post accusing Zepto, a quick-commerce startup, of fostering a toxic work culture has gone viral, sparking widespread discussion. The anonymous user, claiming to have worked at Zepto for a year, alleged that employees face 14-hour workdays, late-night meetings, and poor management practices. They claimed CEO Aadit Palicha starts work at 2 PM, resulting in meetings being scheduled as late as 2 AM.

The post also accused Zepto of prioritizing younger hires to reduce costs, with senior professionals avoiding the company due to its demanding culture. Other claims included high employee turnover, data security issues, questionable app practices like customer profiling, and layoffs expected by March. Allegedly, many employees remain only in hopes of benefiting from a potential IPO.

Separately, Aadit Palicha shared a statement on social media about work-life balance, saying, “I have nothing against work-life balance. In fact, I recommend it to all our competitors.” He later clarified that the quote originated from an interview with Daksh Gupta, CEO of another startup.

Palicha did not directly address the allegations from the Reddit post, but his remarks have fueled further debate about workplace culture in fast-growing startups like Zepto.