Office Depot owner loses over £50m ahead of quitting UK thanks to working from home trend October 2, 2024 OT Group, the owner of Office Depot and the Spicers wholesale brand, lost more than £50m in the year before it revealed plans to quit the UK. The Greater Manchester-headquartered group has posted a pre-tax loss of £52.5m for 2023, having also lost £15.8m in 2022. Newly-filed accounts with Companies House also reveal that turnover [...]
Plusnet price rises boost profit after John Lewis closure October 1, 2024 Profit has risen at Plusnet despite a slump in customer numbers following the closure of its mobile division and John Lewis axing its broadband platform. The Sheffield-headquartered broadband provider, which is owned by BT, suffered a 29 per cent reduction in its customer base following the closures. However, annual contractual price rises partially offset the [...]
Let’s be honest… the government is gaslighting us on working from home September 19, 2024 Given the public sector’s appalling productivity record , the government should get its own house in order before giving out working from home advice to private businesses, says Matthew Lesh There is an irony in government ministers telling private enterprises how to be more productive. This week, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds claimed that creating a [...]
All the best offices are embracing the Great Outdoors (so leave HSBC alone) August 8, 2024 From smoking den to outdoor zen – offices are embracing green spaces, says Lucy Arthur
When it comes to flexible working, what matters is output July 15, 2024 Debates about working from home should be based on evidence, not an inter-generational culture war, says Eliot Wilson We have been debating the benefits and challenges of “flexible working” for decades, but it was the enforced disruption of the Covid-19 lockdown which forced the issue to the top of employers’ agendas. Like many crises, the [...]
TSB shifts Square Mile hub as staff defy work from home expectations June 16, 2024 The controversial work-from-home trend, catalysed by the Covid-19 lockdowns, has drawn criticism by some business leaders and politicians.
Franco Manca and The Real Greek owner blames home workers for fall into the red despite sales rising to £100m May 14, 2024 The owner of the Franco Manca and The Real Greek restaurant chains has blamed the rise in home working for it slipping into the red.
Gen z aren’t lazy – they just know that work doesn’t pay May 2, 2024 Generation z are shunning the corporate ladder because they recognise we live in an asset-driven economy that penalises work
The Debate: Have flexible working laws gone too far? May 1, 2024 Will new laws allowing workers to "request" flexible hours culminate in the irreparable breakdown of society?
How work from home could be denting London’s GDP March 25, 2024 The new work-from-home era has inflated London’s GDP by over £8bn, as outdated measures of regional growth have warped official calculations. When adjusting for where people actually work from, rather than where their jobs are based on paper, the size of London’s economy falls by 1.4 per cent, data from Cebr has revealed. This pushes [...]