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- Chris Ellison, the billionaire managing director of an Australian mining firm, banned staff from working from home.
- Now, he says he doesn't want them leaving the office to get a coffee either.
- Ellison's comments come as companies crack down on WFH after the pandemic.
An Australian billionaire who banned his staff from working from home has said he doesn't want employees to leave the office to get a coffee.
Chris Ellison, the managing director of Australian mining company Mineral Resources, said on Thursday that he doesn't want his staff to "leave the building" to get lunch or a coffee, and instead wants to keep them "captive all daylong."
He commented while touting the facilities of Mineral Resources' two-year-old headquarters in Perth, Australia, which he said employees "love" working in and includes a restaurant, gym, and new day care.
"I want to hold them captive all daylong. I don't want them leaving the building," Ellison, worth $1.2 billion according to Forbes, told investors while presenting the firm's full-year 2024 financial results.
"I don't want them walking down the road for a cup of coffee, we figured out a few years ago how much that costs. Wandering out around lunchtime, we've got a restaurant in there [the office], we've also got a gym, and we've got other facilities that keep them glued in there," he said.
"I have a no work-from-home policy. I wish everyone else would get on board with that, the sooner the better. The industry can't afford it. We can't have people working three days a week and picking up five days a week pay," the mining billionaire added.
WFH became commonplace during the pandemic, but now many companies in the US and abroad are clamping down on remote working.
In the past few years, several CEOs have demanded that employees return to the office part-time or full-time, saying that working remotely impacts productivity.
Goldman Sachs said in 2023 that staff should come into the office five days a week, while tech giants Google and Amazon have both told staff they must go into the office at least three days a week.
Ellison said Mineral Resources had set up its own day care as part of a drive to encourage employees to come into the office, and to make it easier for women to enter the mining industry.
He said female employees were spending as much as 180 AUD (USD $122) per day on childcare, and that the company day care would cost $20 AUD ($14) by comparison.
"Drop the little tykes off next door. We've got doctors and nurses on board. We're going to feed them, but Mum and Dad will be working in our office," said Ellison.
Mineral Resources Ltd did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent outside normal working hours.