The managing director of a minerals company has set out plans to keep employees in the office for longer. The comments, made during a presentation, has resulted in some backlash.
ADVERTISEMENTChris Ellison, the managing director of Australian mining company Mineral Resources, has received some backlash online after he set out plans during a company presentation to prevent staff leaving the office as much, including going out for a coffee.
On Thursday, he said: “Head office is a place that a lot of our people want to be and they love working in. We’ve got a lot of different benefits that we’ve brought on. Why have I done all that? Because when I get them first up in the morning, I want to hold them captive all day long.
“I don’t want them leaving the building. So, I don’t want them walking down the road for a cup of coffee, we kind of figured out a few years ago how much that cost, wandering out around lunchtime.”
To further support his goal of keeping employees in work for longer, he explained how Mineral Resources provides facilities such as a restaurant, a gym, nine staff psychologists and more at its head office in Perth, Western Australia. The company is also building a daycare centre to retain working parents.
The daycare facility will have the capacity to take about 105 children and will charge parents AUD 20 (€12.28) per day, as opposed to the around AUD 180 (€110.54) a day on average that most Australian parents have to shell out on childcare. A move that will come as a welcome relief for parents despite the coffee comments.
Mineral Resources, which has about 5,600 employees, is also bucking the trend of companies adopting more remote or hybrid working since the pandemic, as well as newer working models such as the four-day work week. A strategy that has also been regarded as out of touch and less supportive of employees on lower salaries who can't afford costly commutes and care costs.
Regarding the ban on working from home, Ellison said: “I have a no work-from-home policy, I wish everyone else would get on board with that, the sooner, the better. The industry can’t afford it. We can’t have people working three days a week and picking up five days a week pay- or four days.”
More European companies fighting against working from home
Although still in the minority, Mineral Resources is certainly not the only company demanding workers go back to the office in some capacity, with more European companies also doing the same.
Back in February this year. Deutsche Bank imposed a rule preventing the majority of staff working from home on Fridays and the following Mondays. This requirement is also seen at a number of other companies. Deutsche Bank managing directors were also told to come into the office at least four days a week from June onwards.
The bank revealed that this rule was mainly to ensure consistency and employee presence across the bank throughout the week.
Other companies such as Manchester United have also faced similar moves. In May, the football club’s minority stakeholder, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, asked employees to return to working on-site, citing falling email traffic statistics during work-from-home Fridays.
Sir Jim also said that this would increase unity, productivity and collaboration, even going so far as to tell employees not on board with this plan to find other jobs. ‘
This change in strategy would be quite a reversal from the flexible work-from-home policy enjoyed by employees since the pandemic. It has also raised a number of logistical concerns, such as the club’s Manchester and London offices not having enough space for all staff, and some employees being on flexible contracts and living further away.
However, in the last few years, countries such as the UK, Germany, France and Portugal have also been implementing stricter laws for employers contacting staff outside of regular working hours. The UK has also recently taken place in a four-day work week trial.
