The British billionaire inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner on Wednesday laid out the reasons why employees should be going back to the office, after nearly seven months of working remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Britain went into total lockdown in March, closing the offices of thousands of businesses and forcing most of the country to work from home.
Although lockdown measures began easing in May, many offices remain partially or fully closed and have not welcomed back staff.
"We [Dyson] recognised right at the beginning [of the pandemic] – in late January and early February – whilst the shops are going to shut, our factories would close and we had to do something about it. So we took a decision to sell direct rather than sell in shops that were shut," Sir James Dyson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
The 73-year-old inventor said that unfortunately this led to Dyson changing its business model and making redundancies. The company – which also develops hand dryers, fans, heaters and lights – announced 900 staff lay-offs in July amid the pandemic.
Mr Dyson has previously said that people should not work from home because it is not where “the creativity happens” and on Wednesday he reiterated his claim.
“You need the interaction of other people to make progress and above all you can’t train people when you’re at home. I’m 73 and when I come into work I’m learning all the time, we’re learning from each other. You can’t train people and learn when you’re sitting at home,” he said.
UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak conceded on Tuesday that despite the British government doing all it could to protect as many jobs as a possible, unemployment would likely rise as the furlough scheme finishes at the end of this month.
Mr Sunak created a new Job Support Scheme, which will replace the furlough scheme, but said only people in "viable" jobs would be allowed to use it.
Mr Dyson is Britain's richest man, worth an estimated £12.6 billion, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2020.
Asked about how the UK can achieve economic growth amid the Covid-19 pandemic, he said: “Getting people back to work would be a good start.”
There has been talk of another national lockdown in the UK in a bid to control the spread of the coronavirus. Mr Dyson said that he would urge against further lockdown measures that could damage the economy.
“I’d never tell the Chancellor what to do and I wish him luck, but I think we’ve got to recover our economy, we’ve got encourage entrepreneurship and wealth creation,” he said.
“That’s the way out of this and it’ll be hard work but that’s what we’ve got to do.
“We should talk less about pubs and more about how we get people back to work and get entrepreneurs and businesses active again.”
Paying for your tea and toilet roll
Meanwhile, as homeworking has become commonplace since the pandemic’s onset, Dutch authorities are considering a policy that would lead to companies paying for their employees’ tea and toilet paper.
Officials are mulling the idea of paying around €2 a day to cover the coffee, tea and toilet paper used in work hours, as well as the extra gas, electricity and water, plus the depreciation costs of a chair and a desk. People working from the office would not be paying for these provisions under normal circumstances.
NIBUD, a family finances institution mainly funded by the government, is researching the extra costs of remote working.
“We have literally calculated down to how many teaspoons there are in an average household, so from there it’s not that difficult to establish the costs,” NIBUD’s Gabrielle Bettonville said.
2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Zayed Sustainability Prize
NINE WINLESS GAMES
Arsenal 2-2 Crystal Palace (Oct 27, PL)
Liverpool 5-5 Arsenal (Oct 30, EFL)
Arsenal 1-1 Wolves (Nov 02, PL)
Vitoria Guimaraes 1-1 Arsenal (Nov 6, Europa)
Leicester 2-0 Arsenal (Nov 9, PL)
Arsenal 2-2 Southampton (Nov 23, PL)
Arsenal 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt (Nov 28, Europa)
Norwich 2-2 Arsenal (Dec 01, PL)
Arsenal 1-2 Brighton (Dec 05, PL)
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The years Ramadan fell in May
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The biog
Age: 30
Position: Senior lab superintendent at Emirates Global Aluminium
Education: Bachelor of science in chemical engineering, post graduate degree in light metal reduction technology
Favourite part of job: The challenge, because it is challenging
Favourite quote: “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” Gandi
The five pillars of Islam
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
New schools in Dubai
Read more from Aya Iskandarani
The studios taking part (so far)
- Punch
- Vogue Fitness
- Sweat
- Bodytree Studio
- The Hot House
- The Room
- Inspire Sports (Ladies Only)
- Cryo
Cases of coronavirus in the GCC as of March 15
Saudi Arabia – 103 infected, 0 dead, 1 recovered
UAE – 86 infected, 0 dead, 23 recovered
Bahrain – 210 infected, 0 dead, 44 recovered
Kuwait – 104 infected, 0 dead, 5 recovered
Qatar – 337 infected, 0 dead, 4 recovered
Oman – 19 infected, 0 dead, 9 recovered
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
65
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The years Ramadan fell in May
Zimbabwe v UAE, ODI series
All matches at the Harare Sports Club:
1st ODI, Wednesday, April 10
2nd ODI, Friday, April 12
3rd ODI, Sunday, April 14
4th ODI, Tuesday, April 16
UAE squad: Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
