AI-generated image for representation purpose

A post by a tech worker in San Francisco showing multiple pairs of shoes left on the floor outside the office door has gone viral on social media. The place in the viral photo is identified as Cursor’s office – the AI startup founded in 2022 by four MIT alumni – Aman Sanger, Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, and Arvid Lunnemark. Interestingly, Cursor is not the only tech startup that is embracing the “no shoes” policy. Other than Cruson, Replo, Spur, Speak, Flowhub and Composite are telling employees to leave their Vans and Uggs at the door. A New York Times report in January this year quoted Sneha Sivakumar, a co-founder and the chief executive of Spur, who said that the no-shoes policy “makes it feel like a second home” for her 10 employees and “disarms you in a positive way.” Spur uses AI to check websites for bugs.

Reason behind tech startup’s no-shoes policy

Though a theory, analysts say that the trend has its origin in China’s hard-charging tech scene. No-shoes phenomenon is being linked with Silicon Valley’s 996 culture. The 996 number combo refers to a work schedule — 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. Margaret O’Mara, a historian at the University of Washington as per an NY Times report says that 996 is a “high-octane version of something that has been around in the tech industry for a while,” said.She added that after a few turbulent years of layoffs, the tech industry has tightened things up. Elon Musk’s self-proclaimed “extremely hard core” approach is no longer out of step with the rest of the industry. Silicon Valley’s “hard tech” era is here, and working crazy hours (or at least talking about working crazy hours) is part of the new norm.

No-shoes policy not a new trend in Silicon Valley

No-shoes policy is not new for Silicon Valley. According to Business Insider, going shoeless had become the techie uniform in 2019, along with the hoodie, t-shirt, and jeans. With the covid pandemic in 2020, many were forced to work remotely.As quoted by NYT, Nick Bloom, a Stanford economist who studies work culture, says that the shoes-off trend was partly “the pajama economy in action.” According to Bloom, now that people who worked from home during the pandemic are back in the office, they are bringing their home habits with them.