Australian mining company stops workers from going out for coffee to keep them in the office

The boss of an Australian mining company that banned employees from working from home is also aiming to stop people from going out of the office to get coffee.

Chris Ellison, chief executive of the mining company Mineral Resources, said workers who went out to get coffee at the company’s head office were “a huge cost”.

Ellison said in a presentation on the company’s financials that he aims to keep employees in the office, saying, “I don’t want them to leave the building.”

Chris Ellison’s wish, as he puts it, is to “keep employees in the office all day.”

Ellison, who earns A$6 million a year, has also been harshly critical of other companies that allow their employees to work from home.

The company, which employs about 5,600 people and has a market value of A$8 billion, officially banned working from home for all its employees last year.

“I’m committed to a ‘no work from home’ policy. I hope everyone eventually does the same. The industry can’t handle the work from home burden,” Ellison said.

Ellison also took aim at the global trend toward loosening workweeks: “Everyone in the industry is now asking, ‘Why don’t we work three or four days?’ We can’t keep working three days and getting paid for five days.”

‘You can leave your child right next door and start working’

Mineral Resources management decided to “provide a range of facilities” to employees at the company’s main office in Perth in a bid to keep them in the office. The office has a restaurant, nine psychologists, a gym and a creche.

“One reason they come here and work is because they can drop their kids off right next door and start working. We have doctors and nurses, we feed the kids, and their moms and dads work in the office,” Ellison said.

“Why do I do all this? Because when they come in the morning, I want to keep them here all day. I don’t want them to leave the building. I don’t want them to go downstairs and get coffee. We’ve calculated over the years how much that costs us.”

Ellison is one of many bosses who oppose the work-from-home trend.

Last week, London-based smartphone maker Nothing sent a message to all its employees saying it was “ending hybrid working” and that everyone would be working from the office.

“I know this is a controversial decision and may not be for everyone. There are companies that can handle remote work, but this is not the case in our industry. It does not help us reach our potential as a company,” the company’s executive wrote in a message.

The Covid pandemic, which affected the whole world at the beginning of 2020, made remote working practices widespread, and many companies directed their employees to hybrid models where they could work from home on certain days of the week.

It was also thought that the companies’ motivation to reduce office costs was effective in this decision.

In addition to remote working trials, new working models that work 4 days a week are also being tried in various countries.