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Tycoon Branson urges companies to let employees work from home


Companies should let employees work from home, says Richard Branson.

The businessman made the remarks during an interview on Bloomberg TV where he stated that unless one is in a technical field, like flying a plane, they can comfortably work from home.

Mr Branson who is the founder of Virgin group slammed companies that forbid the practice such as Yahoo, stating that it puts pressure on families.

“If [people with children] can get the job done at home and they can be around their kids, then I think that’s good for the family and good for the business and good for the individual,” he told Bloomberg’s Emily Chang.

IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY

He said that telecommuting improves productivity and that the flexibility to stay home occasionally could be the difference between a parent advancing in her career and having to quit.

Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer ended Yahoo’s work-from-home policy in February 2013 because she felt employees “[needed] to be working side-by-side”.

Mr Branson was with Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg who also expressed her support to the practice.

Sandberg said that there is a difference between seeming productive and being productive, adding that mostly a lot of formal communication takes place in the office taking up most of the time.

“Of course we care that people tried, but when you do that, you build this culture of being seen in the office trying, which is different than results,” she said.

In September 2014, Mr Branson hit the headlines when he announced that his employees can take unlimited vacation days.

He stated that no approval was required to take time off and that employees could go on unlimited vacation without anyone tracking their off days as long as their teams were up to date on every project and their absence would not damage the business.