Employees should be available ‘anytime’

Martha Stewart is the queen of home — but not work from home.

The 81-year-old mogul revealed in an interview with Footwear News this week that she’s not a big fan of the hybrid work schedule, a model where employers split up the days when employees are required to come into the office versus working from home.

“You can’t possibly get everything done working three days a week in the office and two days remotely,” Stewart told the outlet.

“Look at the success of France with their stupid … you know, off for August, blah blah blah,” she continued. “That’s not a very thriving country. Should America go down the drain because people don’t want to go back to work?” 

The Post reached out to reps for Stewart for further comment.

The hybrid work schedule first became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic when many companies moved to work from home at the height of the spread in 2020.

Stewart explained during the interview with Footwear News that even during the pandemic, she “continued to work five days a week.”

She spoke more about work during the pandemic during a 2021 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, where she revealed that she had 30 employees on-site at her farm in Bedford, New York.

Stewart said that she had a concierge doctor come to the house twice per week to perform COVID-19 tests on everyone.

The CBD entrepreneur also spoke more about her business philosophy, claiming that a CEO should “always be available” and not stick to a “hierarchy.”

“There’s no hierarchy in my life,” she told the outlet at the time.

“I will wash the floor if I have to wash the floor. I’ll take out the garbage if nobody else has taken out the garbage. The CEO should be available to everybody at all times, if possible.”

Stewart added that she believes employees should be able to talk on the phone “anytime” — even on the weekend.

She explained that one time, she called a new employee on a Sunday, and he told her that he was taking a bath and couldn’t talk to her.

“I knew I couldn’t work with that person. I just couldn’t,” she told the magazine.

“If you can’t talk on a Sunday and you take umbrage that I’m calling you on a Sunday — you know, if you are a terribly religious person, I take that into consideration. But I knew this guy was not a terribly religious person. It’s exciting! Business is exciting. I want people to feel that way about business.”

Over the past few decades, the stockbroker-turned-entrepreneur has become a household name.

In 1997, she launched her media and merchandising company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which she then took public in 1999, pushing her into billionaire status.

In 2005, however, she was sent to prison for insider trading, but quickly made a return to the industry after the stint.

She sold her company to Sequential Brands in 2015, according to Footwear News, and in 2019, it was acquired by Marquee Brands, which Stewart currently works with.

However, maybe what she’s become even more famous for in recent years are her selfies on Instagram, which many people have famously dubbed “thirst traps.”

It all started with a selfie from her pool in East Hampton posted in July 2020, which showed Stewart wearing nothing but a navy blue one-piece swimsuit, purple eye shadow and lip gloss as she “smized” into the camera.

Last December, she also posted a sultry selfie pic, this time, a close-up.

And, in April, Stewart posed in a series of snaps with a fresh new haircut styled by friend and celebrity hairdresser John Barrett.

She made history last month as she became the oldest cover model in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.