‘Hold them captive’: Australian billionaire boss aims to end staff going out for coffee

A billionaire mining boss who has already banned home working has said he does not want staff to step out of the office for coffee either.
Chris Ellison, the managing director of Mineral Resources, said the industry could not afford to continue down the path of flexible working, and that his company was investing in amenities at the firm’s head office in Perth, Western Australia, to keep people from leaving the building.
“I want to hold them captive all day long,” Ellison said during a financial presentation on Thursday. “I don’t want them leaving the building … I don’t want them walking down the road for a cup of coffee. We kind of figured out a few years ago how much that cost.”
Ellison, who was paid A$6m (£3.1m) last year, criticised other businesses that allowed their staff to work from home. His ASX-listed company, which is worth about A$8bn and employs about 5,600 people, formally banned the practice last year, despite the widespread trend of more remote working since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I have a no-work-from-home policy,” Ellison said. “I wish everyone else would get on board with that – the sooner the better. The industry can’t afford it.”
He also suggested that the trend towards more lenient working hours was misguided. “We’ve now got the industry all heading out there going ‘why don’t we do a four-day week, we got used to it over Covid’,” Ellison added. “We can’t have people working three days, and picking up five days a week pay, or [even] four days.”
Mineral Resources has installed a range of amenities at its headquarters. “Head office is a place that a lot of our people want to be, and they love working in there,” Ellison said. “We’ve got a restaurant in there, we’ve also got a gym, and we’ve got other facilities that keep them glued in there.”
The company has also opened a creche, which costs about A$20 a day compared with the typical A$180 charged by external providers. “So another reason for them to come and enjoy work: drop the little tykes off next door. We’ve got doctors on board and nurses, we’re going to feed them, but mum and dad will be working in our office.”