Workers who leave the head office to buy a cup of coffee are costing an Australian mining firm too much money, according to its boss.
Managing director of Mineral Resources Chris Ellison said during a financial results presentation on Wednesday he wants to “hold staff captive all day long”.
“I don’t want them leaving the building,” he said.
The head office in Perth has a restaurant, nine staff psychologists, a gym, and other facilities designed to encourage staff to stay in the office. “We have a lot of different benefits that we have brought on,” said Mr Ellison, whose company has a strict “no work from home policy”. "Why have I done that? Because when I get them first thing in the morning, I want to hold them captive all day long. I don’t want them leaving the building.
And we are entitled to critique his silly backwards and out dated attitudes. He’ll be dead soon just like a lot of other dinosaurs and the world is going to move on whether he likes it or not. But instead he chooses to resist. Its really quite stupid.
He can add all the so called office perks he likes but it doesn’t compensate for the expense and time wasting that is commuting.
And people wonder why couples are deciding not to have children when megalomaniacs like this clown seem to think life revolves around work, so much so he wants you to drop your kids off at childcare so someone else can raise them. This guy is by no means an outlier in his attitudes but he is certainly bold enough to speak very plainly on it.
For the avoidance of all doubt I don’t advocate for employee laziness (unless you are being paid shit, in which case you put in proportionate to pay), but flexible working arrangements make a lot of sense.