Amazon orders staff back to the office five days a week – as government pushes for flexible working

Amazon is ordering its staff back to the office five days a week, just as the government is pushing for flexible working to be law.

The move comes despite Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds saying flexible working makes staff more productive and more loyal.

5

5

He said: “Good employers need to judge people on outcomes and not a culture of presenteeism.”

Amazon’s step is particularly awkward for ministers as they recently toasted the firm’s creation of 14,000 new UK jobs as part of a £8billion data centre expansion.

However, the online giant’s boss, Andy Jassy, told staff in a memo that its move last year to return to at least three days a week in the office had helped to convince him about the benefits.

Mr. Jassy said that staff being together in the workplace meant “collaborating, brainstorming and inventing are simpler and more effective.”

READ MORE ON WFH

LEO MCINSTRY

WFH breeds self-indulgent culture, at its worst it's institutionalised skiving

WORK IT OUT

Four in 10 Brits say their work-from-home space is 'chaos' covered in rubbish

He added: “Teaching and learning from one another are more seamless and teams tend to be better ­connected to one another.”

Signalling the change back to normal office working, Mr. Jassy said: “Before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward.”

The majority of Amazon’s 1.5million global employees are in warehouses, who pack and ship ­parcels and have no option but to turn up to their place of work.

But 350,000 are in offices, including those on its Prime Video streaming service, technology development, and cloud computing arms.

Most read in Business

FORD PULLS PLUG

Ford set to axe 800 British jobs - blaming slow electric vehicle sales

RATES OF ATTRITION

BoE boss says Budget risks job losses and interest rates staying higher

PHARMAGEDDON

Trump's health chief pick wipes billions off value of Brit medicine-makers

Goods & services

Getting a job in procurement - everything you need to know

5

Labour will set out its work reforms by October 12 as part of its self-imposed 100-day deadline.

It plans to give employee protection from “day one,” including a right to switch off work gadgets and to opt for flexible working. However, the cabinet is still thrashing out details of probationary periods.

THG tries shake-up

5

Protein shake maker, online beauty retailer, and City AM newspaper owner THG is attempting to streamline and boost its balance sheet by spinning off its tech and logistics arm.

The Manchester-based firm, formerly known as The Hut Group, yesterday announced it was considering a demerger of THG Ingenuity.

When THG floated in 2020 with a £5.4billion valuation, investors tipped its Ingenuity tech as the future of online retail.

A year later, Japan’s Softbank put a $6.3billion valuation on Ingenuity alone.

But the entire valuation of THG has now crashed by 92 per cent to £765million and its shares fell another 11 per cent yesterday.

Analysts suggested loss-making Ingenuity would be spun off into a “privately held ­company.” THG also said it would be moving to a single-class listing to boost investment.

It’s suite dreams for B&Q

5

The owner of DIY chain B&Q is eyeing a boost from the housing market’s recovery after people put off bathroom and kitchen revamps.

Kingfisher, which also owns Screwfix and Castorama in France, posted a 2.4 per cent drop in group half-year like-for-like sales.

In the UK, B&Q sales fell by 2.3 per cent in the second quarter, which it blamed on a rainy June dampening demand for outdoor furniture and garden products.

Kingfisher boss Thierry Garnier said: “As expected, sales in ‘big ticket’ categories such as kitchen and bathrooms remained weak.”

But he said the market was bouncing back as mortgages become cheaper. He said people typically kept spending on their house for about 18 months after moving in.

The FTSE 100 firm boosted its pre-tax profit guidance to an upper range of £510million to £550million for the full year.

Rose on the rise

Dame Alison Rose, the former boss of NatWest, has taken a job at the top law firm that advised her during the Nigel Farage debanking debacle.

Mishcon de Reya yesterday said Dame Alison had joined its “equity, diversity and inclusion committee” and would be a mentor to partners.

She was one of the city’s most high-profile women before losing her job in the row over Mr. Farage’s account closure at NatWest-owned Coutts.

War on pay gap

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is backing female-founded firms after it emerged that they are receiving less than two per cent of capital.

She has thrown her weight behind the Invest in Women Taskforce, started by the Tories in March. Research found just £145million of this year’s total equity investment (1.8 per cent) has gone to all-female-founded businesses.

Male teams got £6.92billion (86.3 per cent). Ms. Reeves said: “I want Sun readers to know that we will end the gender pay gap for good.”

Energy supplier OVO will pay out £2.4million after Ofgem found it failed to properly handle customer complaints. It will pay £2million to a redress scheme and compensation totalling £378,000 to around 1,400 customers.

Pret sales £1bn

Sales at Pret hit £1billion for the first time last year as the sandwich chain raised prices and expanded overseas.

It said global sales rose 22 per cent to £1.1billion, with £1 in every £4 of revenue now made abroad. It has stores in India, Greece, Spain, and the US, with New York now the biggest market after London.

READ MORE SUN STORIES

TUNE IN

Freeview watchers warned of nine major changes coming to TVs across the UK TODAY

PAY OUT

Major update to car finance compensation scandal

To win back customers, Pret recently lowered the cost of its baguettes. Sales of filter coffee are up 60 per cent since it reduced the price to 99p when it scrapped free coffees under its subscription.