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"I want to hold them captive all day long:" Australian mining boss opposes staff leaving office for coffee (www.bbc.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by tardigrada@beehaw.org to c/australia@aussie.zone

30 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] Ilandar@aussie.zone 32 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There are so many better ways he could have phrased that, but like most old, white men in his position this guy is probably a complete idiot who has rarely needed to think about the importance of language in sensitive discussions. People like that think this stuff is just a joke and they're either completely unaware or just don't care that many workers do actually feel trapped by their circumstances of employment.

[–] Greyghoster@aussie.zone 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I don’t think he is joking. As an out of touch billionaire who thinks that he is a modern feudal lord, he sounds on message.

[–] Ilandar@aussie.zone 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I guess what I mean is that privileged people in positions of power often seem to think language doesn't matter and that they can just say whatever they want with no repercussions. When it gets called out or questioned they pull the "it was just locker room talk bro" line and act like it was funny and everyone is overly sensitive/overreacting. The pain of others is a joke to them.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I think Greyghoster's point is that he was literally just being honest about his feelings.

Like yeah there are definitely times that being sensitive and careful about your wording matters in order to get across a nuanced or difficult point in a sensitive manner. But this isn't one of those cases. He could have been more sensitive about his wording, but if he had been it would just have been a dishonest way to try and euphemistically say "screw you, got mine".

And if I'm understanding you correctly, you more or less agree with that. You're just pointing out that he doesn't feel the need to do that dishonest spin, because he's felt so protected by his status in life that he thinks being completely honest about how much of a dick he is will work for him. And historically he's been right about that, more often than not.

~~Also what's going on here? Your comment says 41 minutes ago. Greyghoster's says 27 minutes ago. No "edited" mark??~~

edit: disregard that. It's cos your comment's timestamp got updated when I clicked reply and theirs didn't.

[–] SpicyLizards@reddthat.com 21 points 2 weeks ago

Says Mr Planet-rapist

[–] wscholermann@aussie.zone 20 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Hot tip boomer, commuting is a waste of time and money and in most jobs doing away with this has no bearing on performance outcomes.

Another hot tip, just because someone is in the office doesn't mean they aren't wasting time. Don't assume for one minute that the office days are somehow the glory days . Believe me I see the time wasting and shit talking every time I go into the office.

Arguably the distractions of an office 9 times out of 10 are actually counter productive.

[–] Longmactoppedup@aussie.zone 19 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

He agrees it's a waste of time, so he goes by chopper.

https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/mining-billionaire-chris-ellison-lands-permit-to-take-chopper-to-office-20240606-p5jjwa.html

[–] MalReynolds 7 points 2 weeks ago

What a dick.

[–] notgold@aussie.zone 6 points 2 weeks ago

Can't have him wasting time away from the office

[–] Salvo@aussie.zone 4 points 2 weeks ago

“Back when I was a lad, we used to commute into the city every day in our V8-powered sedan and it only took 10 minutes because petrol only cost 30c/l and there weren’t as many cars on the road.” “I expect my workers to do the same, even though petrol is $2.30/l and it takes them an hour to and from work.”

[–] Blackout@fedia.io 20 points 2 weeks ago

If he needs more money he should get a 2nd job

[–] DampSquid@feddit.uk 8 points 2 weeks ago

Someone should beat him to death with Gina Rinehart's corpse

[–] unionagainstdhmo@aussie.zone 6 points 2 weeks ago

"I want to hold them captive all day long"... because I love them so much and wouldn't want anything to happen to them, you wouldn't understand, you just wouldn't!

[–] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It sounds like he has given his employees pretty good damn perks.

Restaurant, psychologists, medical, daycare.

They said “ hey it’s costing us a ton in missed opportunities, let’s just provide these services here and then instead of spending an hour in traffic they can spend it getting paid.”

Just the child care thing blows my mind

[–] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

When the game developers did this it was considered bad. It should still be considered bad.

People have lives

[–] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 1 points 2 weeks ago

This is the same to me as when I say Israelis should just come move to the us.

It’s an offer, not a demand.

If they start forcing people to stay at work, if they just have a shit ton of benefits then send me an application.

My life would be so much easier and better with free childcare at work.

Traveling places takes time, that’s why we built towns and cities in the first place

[–] notgold@aussie.zone 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I don't think it's free. There are plenty of places in the cbd if you're willing to pay

[–] lodion@aussie.zone 5 points 2 weeks ago

MinRes aren't in the CBD, they're out in Osborne Park.

[–] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

CBD?

[–] matmpg@aussie.zone 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Central Business District. I think the Americanism is ‘Downtown’

[–] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 1 points 2 weeks ago

Ah! Yeah that sounds right

[–] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com -4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Honestly, this headline is outrage reporting at its finest.

It sounds to me like this guy was simply paraphrasing (in an earnings call) his desire to encourage people to stay in the office for a more complete day. He's backing that up by alleviating a lot of the reasons for people to spend time away from the office: restaurant, gym, and even a childcare centre with doctors and nurses.

It's not like he's locking the doors until 5pm each day.

[–] Greyghoster@aussie.zone 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It seems that he actually said the words and from what he has said that he doesn’t like a reasonable work/life balance. He probably thinks that he’s a great employer however the millennial workforce may disagree.

[+] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com -7 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

As the one calling the shots, he’s entitled to run the business that way.

As employees in a free society, his people are free to leave if they don’t like it.

If he turns out to be wrong and the arse falls out of the company as a result, the board will hold him accountable.

No one is forced to do anything here. Everyone is able to make decisions that change their outcomes.

[–] wscholermann@aussie.zone 6 points 2 weeks ago

And we are entitled to critique his silly backwards and out dated attitudes. He'll be dead soon just like a lot of other dinosaurs and the world is going to move on whether he likes it or not. But instead he chooses to resist. Its really quite stupid.

He can add all the so called office perks he likes but it doesn't compensate for the expense and time wasting that is commuting.

And people wonder why couples are deciding not to have children when megalomaniacs like this clown seem to think life revolves around work, so much so he wants you to drop your kids off at childcare so someone else can raise them. This guy is by no means an outlier in his attitudes but he is certainly bold enough to speak very plainly on it.

For the avoidance of all doubt I don't advocate for employee laziness (unless you are being paid shit, in which case you put in proportionate to pay), but flexible working arrangements make a lot of sense.

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 4 points 2 weeks ago

And the free market clapped and gave everyone $20.

[–] Greyghoster@aussie.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago

However as a common carrier they should be bound by rules like other providers of public infrastructure. To say that if people don’t like it they can leave trivialises the situation. People are being subjected to private propaganda and private censorship on a platform that masquerades as a bastion of free speech. Doesn’t matter if it’s Twitter or Facebook or Instagram , they are purveyors of other people’s ideas. If they manipulate or distort or censor then they should be sorted out.

[–] eureka@aussie.zone 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

As the one calling the shots, he’s entitled to run the business that way.

Legally, sure. But I don't care whether someone is legally allowed to be abusive, it's still abuse, and their abusive attitude towards workers earns outrage.

And sure, employees can probably leave legally, but if we allow this abuse to be normalized then there won't be another place to go in the industry. There is economic asymmetry at play, it's not viable to just leave a job whenever it treats someone badly. There are only so many jobs available and the market is increasingly moving towards monopolization in many industries.

People don't just work in shit jobs because they haven't considered leaving. They have legal freedom, but they are not empowered to leave without ending up somewhere just as bad or risking unemployment. So even if no-one is forced, they're inherently pressured, and that pressure is enough for them to accept abuse in order to keep themselves and their families off the dole. We need to create a society with an economy where people aren't subject to the whims of their employers.

[–] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

lol - what abuse? He said these things in an earnings presentation, probably to board and investors.

All I'm saying is that the headline itself smacks of outrage reporting, and there's no more substance in the article itself to add context to what he said, and how. So, I choose to engage a little critical thinking and consider that he might have been responding to a investor question along the lines of, "This is a mining company - why the fuck are you spending money on a restaurant and childcare centre?".

And I don't see any evidence anywhere that his people are enduring shit jobs. Their building has a restaurant, a gym and a childcare centre. Putting aside his choice of words, it sounds like he's investing heavily in trying to alleviate employee pain points, so he gets the best out of them. I'm not seeing anything anywhere where he's forcing people to work long hours, or for shit pay, or under any number of other shitty circumstances.

Like I said: outrage reporting.

[–] eureka@aussie.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

lol - what abuse? He said these things in an earnings presentation, probably to board and investors.

Attempting to (softly) control other peoples' basic freedom, and their social life while at work, restricting them and alienating them from anything outside the office. The problem isn't their choice of words, nor that they admitted it to investors.

Maybe the way I'm saying this sounds melodramatic, that I'm jumping to the extreme case and assuming the worst. But those worst cases happen regularly, and these are the warning signs - when the owners want increasing control over workers to extract more profit, to "get the best out of them". Those employee pain points are social life: the company wants a childcare centre, a restaurant and a gym because "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 costs." They could have lied and said they did it to improve worker wellbeing and get the best out of them, to reduce the travel-time needed, or any other seemingly innocent reason.

This attitude makes the universal truth clear, a board and investors see their workers as a resource for extracting maximum profit. It has to be that way, that's how they compete and survive. And it alienates workers.

And I don’t see any evidence anywhere that his people are enduring shit jobs.

I didn't say they were. I don't know their conditions. I'm refuting the common attitude that workers are just free to leave when they're being abused.

outrage reporting

You have a point. They said the quiet part aloud because their audience didn't need the propaganda bullshit they would have told other people. And so, they admitted an outrageous truth which, well, is pretty normal among businesses. The journalist is taking a quote and shining the headlights on them. But, they are not inventing a fake problem. There's no ethical justification for saying they don't want people leaving the building to enjoy a walk and a coffee on their break. Employer exploitation of workers is a real issue in society at large, it deserves attention, and this outrage is an opportunity to give it the attention it deserves.