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.
Google and Facebook already went down this route. Lots of amenities on-site (at least, in their headquarters). But they were more used as carrots to induce people to join the company and stay. The stick approach of ‘you can’t leave’ is an interesting variation.
Let’s see how long before the ‘apology/I was misquoted/retiring to spend more time with family’ tour kicks off…
Where I live, the regulations specifically say that employees are allowed to go offsite during their breaks, doubtless because of some asshole like this in the past. I’d be unsurprised if they don’t have the same rules in Australia. Sure, incentivize them to stick around, but never say the breaking the law part out loud.