‘He didn’t mean you’: Manager to staff at Gurner’s wellness business
An operator at Rich Lister Tim Gurner’s wellness and anti-ageing network has sought to calm the nerves of staff, assuring them the founder’s viral comments about entitled workers were not directed at them.
In a discussion about productivity and the construction sector at The Australian Financial Review Property Summit on Tuesday, Mr Gurner said unemployment “has to jump 40 to 50 per cent” and that “we need to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way round”.
Saint Haven founder Tim Gurner. Arsineh Houspian
Mr Gurner set up Saint Haven, a $150 million wellness network of brands and private clubs, alongside his large portfolio of luxury real estate investments under the umbrella of the Gurner Group.
A senior manager at Saint Haven network sent a memo to staff on Wednesday addressing the comments, which have now been viewed tens of millions of times online.
“To our Saint Haven family… I want to start by saying I’ve had the pleasure of working with Tim for almost two years now and can hand on heart say that his care and love for both the Gurner Group and Saint Haven team is immense.”
The Saint Haven manager said Mr Gurner’s comments “were in no way directed at our teams”.
Videos of the remarks are spreading widely on social media, and political leaders around the world have slammed the comments as “disgusting” and “entitled”.
In the Saint Haven memo, the manager tried to add geopolitical context to Mr Gurner’s remarks.
“We only need to look to countries like Turkey, Greece and parts of South America to truly understand how significant inflation increases and housing shortages have very real impacts on society,” the Saint Haven manager wrote.
“Many Australian business leaders are fighting very hard (Tim
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