Amazon is ordering its staff back to the office five days a week, just as the government is pushing for flexible working to be law.

The move comes despite Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds saying flexible working makes staff more productive and more loyal.

PA

Amazon is ordering its staff back to the office, just as the government is pushing for flexible working to be law[/caption]

Getty

Amazon boss Andy Jassy, told staff that they will need to return to the office for a full five days a week[/caption]

He said: “Good employers need to judge people on outcomes and not a culture of presenteeism.”

Amazon’s step is particularly awkward for ministers as they recently toasted the firm’s creation of 14,000 new UK jobs as part of a £8billion data centre expansion.

However, the online giant’s boss, Andy Jassy, told staff in a memo that its move last year to return to at least three days a week in the office had helped to convince him about the benefits.

Mr. Jassy said that staff being together in the workplace meant “collaborating, brainstorming and inventing are simpler and more effective.”

He added: “Teaching and learning from one another are more seamless and teams tend to be better ­connected to one another.”

Signalling the change back to normal office working, Mr. Jassy said: “Before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward.”

The majority of Amazon’s 1.5million global employees are in warehouses, who pack and ship ­parcels and have no option but to turn up to their place of work.

But 350,000 are in offices, including those on its Prime Video streaming service, technology development, and cloud computing arms.

Getty

The move comes despite Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds saying flexible working makes staff more productive and more loyal[/caption]

Labour will set out its work reforms by October 12 as part of its self-imposed 100-day deadline.

It plans to give employee protection from “day one,” including a right to switch off work gadgets and to opt for flexible working. However, the cabinet is still thrashing out details of probationary periods.

THG tries shake-up

the hut group

THG is looking to boost its financial position and simplify its operations by separating its tech and logistics division[/caption]

Protein shake maker, online beauty retailer, and City AM newspaper owner THG is attempting to streamline and boost its balance sheet by spinning off its tech and logistics arm.

The Manchester-based firm, formerly known as The Hut Group, yesterday announced it was considering a demerger of THG Ingenuity.

When THG floated in 2020 with a £5.4billion valuation, investors tipped its Ingenuity tech as the future of online retail.

A year later, Japan’s Softbank put a $6.3billion valuation on Ingenuity alone.

But the entire valuation of THG has now crashed by 92 per cent to £765million and its shares fell another 11 per cent yesterday.

Analysts suggested loss-making Ingenuity would be spun off into a “privately held ­company.” THG also said it would be moving to a single-class listing to boost investment.

It’s suite dreams for B&Q

SUPPLIED

B&Q is hoping an upturn in the housing market will give it a boost after customers delayed kitchen and bathroom renovations[/caption]

The owner of DIY chain B&Q is eyeing a boost from the housing market’s recovery after people put off bathroom and kitchen revamps.

Kingfisher, which also owns Screwfix and Castorama in France, posted a 2.4 per cent drop in group half-year like-for-like sales.

In the UK, B&Q sales fell by 2.3 per cent in the second quarter, which it blamed on a rainy June dampening demand for outdoor furniture and garden products.

Kingfisher boss Thierry Garnier said: “As expected, sales in ‘big ticket’ categories such as kitchen and bathrooms remained weak.”

But he said the market was bouncing back as mortgages become cheaper. He said people typically kept spending on their house for about 18 months after moving in.

The FTSE 100 firm boosted its pre-tax profit guidance to an upper range of £510million to £550million for the full year.

Rose on the rise

Dame Alison Rose, the former boss of NatWest, has taken a job at the top law firm that advised her during the Nigel Farage debanking debacle.

Mishcon de Reya yesterday said Dame Alison had joined its “equity, diversity and inclusion committee” and would be a mentor to partners.

She was one of the city’s most high-profile women before losing her job in the row over Mr. Farage’s account closure at NatWest-owned Coutts.

War on pay gap

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is backing female-founded firms after it emerged that they are receiving less than two per cent of capital.

She has thrown her weight behind the Invest in Women Taskforce, started by the Tories in March. Research found just £145million of this year’s total equity investment (1.8 per cent) has gone to all-female-founded businesses.

Male teams got £6.92billion (86.3 per cent). Ms. Reeves said: “I want Sun readers to know that we will end the gender pay gap for good.”

---

Energy supplier OVO will pay out £2.4million after Ofgem found it failed to properly handle customer complaints. It will pay £2million to a redress scheme and compensation totalling £378,000 to around 1,400 customers.

---

Pret sales £1bn

Sales at Pret hit £1billion for the first time last year as the sandwich chain raised prices and expanded overseas.

It said global sales rose 22 per cent to £1.1billion, with £1 in every £4 of revenue now made abroad. It has stores in India, Greece, Spain, and the US, with New York now the biggest market after London.

To win back customers, Pret recently lowered the cost of its baguettes. Sales of filter coffee are up 60 per cent since it reduced the price to 99p when it scrapped free coffees under its subscription.

HAMZAH SHEERAZ will almost drag his family out an £800,000 debt on Saturday night that they willingly risked to fund his boxing career.

The 25-year-old Ilford middleweight captained the Frank Warren promotional team that battered Eddie Hearn’s flops 10-0 in June.

Alamy

Sheeraz shown his belts after winning his fight against Liam Williams earlier this year[/caption]

And his ruthless double-bubble stoppage of American Ammo Williams earned him an ambassadorial role with Saudi boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh, who is bankrolling these Riyadh Season spectaculars all around the world.

Casual fans will assume a few televised shows and a sparring session with Justin Bieber will have made Sheeraz a multimillionaire already. 

But, unlike the young Premier League players they see on the same TNT and Sky channels, the slog is far harder and more expensive than those of the Prem pups who get a gilded existence before hitting the big time.

And Saturday’s Wembley stadium battle with classy Midlands southpaw Tyler Denny will just about cover the crippling debt his courier dad took on to set his son on his way to greatness,

He told SunSport: “I have never given this figure out to anyone before but – I am 25 now and from the age of 18, when I first turned pro – the debt we got into was about £800,000, in the red.

“Nobody would believe me, but we are still clearing some of that debt now.

“Every penny of it was invested into me and I didn’t understand it at the time, but my dad just told me I had to take a punt on myself, he told me I had to do it.

“He put every penny he had ever saved into me and luckily we are close to clearing it now.

CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS

“It’s what dreams are made of, it shows that total commitment and sacrifice do pay off.

“99 per cent of fighters doing this professionally are just trying to make a living and most of them have a second job to help them do it.

“I sat next to Josh Padley at the launch press conference and he told me he was driving his work van full of rubbish to the tip when he got the call. 

“It goes to show that, away from all the glitz and the glamour, the purses and opportunities fighters are getting now are life changing.”

Sheeraz is a caring and respectful family man, just like his opponent who helped him in his last camp by being a willing sparring partner.

And he admits that having to flick a switch and turn friend into foe – especially when he knows how vicious his two heavy hands are – is difficult.

“It’s hard but when I get in the ring I have to become cold.” he said without trying to boast.

“The moment I am in there I become cold-blooded and just want to get them out of there.

“My mentality is that I have taken this massive punt on myself and nothing is getting in my way.

“Outside the ring I have nothing bad to say about Tyler, this is the opportunity of a lifetime for him, so I am sure he’s trained his nuts off, like I have.

“He is coming with nothing to lose and that makes him dangerous. But that means I have to be dangerous too.”

After Denny, Sheeraz wants another fellow Brit he is far less fond of.

“Chris Eubank Jr is delusional.” he said.

“He was offered all the money he wanted to fight me, then he said I wasn’t a big enough name.

“But now I know he is fighting a lesser name for less money.

“Without his family name he wouldn’t be where he is. My quest is to be a world champion.

“He talks about being a world champion but he has turned down multiple chances. So I don’t understand what his mindset or plan is, but I would love to fight him one day soon.”

Getty

Hamzah Sheeraz celebrates winning The Vacant WBO European Super-Welterweight Championship back in 2019[/caption]

A grandfather of two boys killed in their mother’s home has spoken of his total devastation as he prepares to bury his young grandchildren while also supporting his daughter, who is in prison.

L.O.V.E mentors hundreds of young girls every year - from mental and reproductive health to college and career readiness.

Operatives of the Delta State Police Command have arrested five suspects in connection with the kidnapping of a 70-year-old woman and the collection of a N7.9 million ransom. City & Crime reports that the suspects were arrested by a crack squad attached to the Ughelli Area Command at a brothel in Ewu town in Ughelli […]

The newly incorporated Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Holdings Limited (ZSE Holdings) is set to make a [...]

Winds are a lot calmer and cooler compared to yesterday, which is perfect for spending time outdoors to see the partial lunar eclipse and Harvest Supermoon tonight. I am tracking double-digit highs for the rest of the week followed by a warm-up moving in this weekend.

The post Cooler-than-normal temperatures persist for the rest of the week appeared first on KYMA.

SEATTLE — Fortunately, seals are not on the humpback whale’s menu. A whale-watching naturalist’s photo captured a seemingly stunned seal in the mouth of a humpback whale after the giant marine mammal accidentally swallowed him last Thursday in the waters off Anacortes, Washington. The feeding frenzy began when a Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildfire Tours […]

JoJo is getting candid about a less-than-pleasant memory. In her new memoir, Over the Influence, the former teen star—whose full name is Joanna Levesque—reportedly described a “cold” encounter at...

THE VALUE of a £2 coin has skyrocketed by over 100 times due to a specific animal sketch.

When the fourth Commonwealth Youth Games was held on the Isle of Man in 2011, the private coin-maker Popjoy Mint, released a very special £2 coin.

You’d better keep your eyes peeled – or put aside a bit of time for a rummage around your pockets and drawers, as floggers are attempting to sell the Tosha the Cat £2 coin for more than 100 times its worth.

Made on behalf of the Isle of Man Treasury, the coin represents not only the sporting event, but a historic moment for the island itself.

The word “Tosha” stands for the Manx Gaelic word “first”, a nice link to how this was the first time the games were held on the island. 

While no one knows its exact mintage figure, British Isles coins have a reputation for somehow making themselves scarce.

Since the British Isle’s population is naturally smaller than the UK’s, this accounts for why they have lower a mintage and ultimately, are rarer.

Although the coin went into circulation into 2011, it wouldn’t be until 2018 that it became the latest collector’s muse.

Members of Facebook coin groups began hustling the coin and shortly after, eBay bidding wars began.

This led to a surge in price for the coin on the secondary market.

At its peak, the specific sketch even won “Coin of the Year” on Facebook coin groups.

The coin itself features Tosha, the official Commonwealth Youth Games Mascot, along with the official logo of the games.

Shockingly, eBay sellers are still managing to barter the coin for hundreds of pounds, even thousands on rare occasions.

For example, one listing described the coin as being on “sale” for a whopping £2,800.

Another listing offered the coin for a buy it now price of £345, while another seller listed the collectable for £141, plus postage.

Although some of these offers may seem tempting, the coin typically sells for around £12.

Still a profit considering we are talking about a £2 coin.

Be warned, as unsurprisingly there are fake Tosha the Cat £2’s out there and we always advise doing extensive research before making an investment.

Change Checker recommends looking out for these features when spotting a fake:

• Its overly shiny
• The strike is much less defined
• It weighs less than the standard 12g £2 coin

It comes after another savvy seller successfully flogged a rare Olympic Games coin for a whopping £700 on eBay.

In celebration of the 2012 London Olympic Games, a set of 29 decorative 50 pence pieces were issued by The Royal Mint.

The coins also came into circulation in 2011 and each represented a different Olympic sport.

Boxing was one of them and Team GB won a total of three gold medals in the event at London 2012, one of which belongs to Nicola Adams the first-ever female champion.

The coin which sold for hundreds of pounds was the Olympic 50p Boxing Coin.

It features a pair of boxing gloves crossed over each other inside a boxing ring with horizontal lines.

Despite the coin selling for £700, it is certainly not worth that huge amount – you can actually buy it for £3 from the Britannia Coin Company.

You can find out what a coin’s mintage figure is by going on The Royal Mint’s website.