Lord Sugar brands staff who WFH as ‘lazy gits’

Lord Sugar has been vocal regards his thoughts on those who work from home (WFH), as he has regularly hit headlines slamming them for their attitude to working.

Now the business magnate has caused a stir once again after he recently branded people who work from home as “lazy gits”.

He shared his thoughts on Twitter following a debate that took place on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

Business owner Geeta Sidhu-Robb revealed during the debate that those working from home save companies money and that they should be valued no matter where they carry out their work.

But Tina Knight, chairman of Women into Business, argued that employees working from home are saving money on travel fees and therefore firms should not have to pay them more.

She added that when it comes to working remotely, “the decision is that of the employer” and they should be the ones to make the call.

However, Lord Sugar disagreed with the idea that allowing staff to work remotely can save firms money, as he wrote on Twitter: “@GMB are saying people who work from home should be paid more to keep warm as companies are saving money while the worker are away. RUBBISH they have to pay rent, heating and rates with or without a full work place. People should be paid less they are saving travel costs (sic).”

A further tweet from Lord Sugar read: “A large percentage of people who work from home are lazy gits they got to like the life created by the pandemic. What about nurses, doctors, cleaners, restaurant staff, builders and decorators, taxi and truck drivers they can’t work from home but provide the lazy gits a service (sic).”

The business leader was quick to retaliate to those who disagreed with his views too, as he called on individual an “ignorant person” for pointing out that Lord Sugar also “works from home (well, his yacht)”.

Other Twitter users stated that businesses are indeed saving money with employees working from home as they do not have to pay for “heating, air conditioning and electricity”.

But Lord Sugar simply said: “Business are not saving any money they have to pay rent, heating and rates for the buildings they occupy. Sorry you are talking rubbish (sic).”

Despite his grievances towards remote working, the popularity for it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

For example, earlier this year figures revealed that remote work had risen from 6.9% in 2019 to 22.4% in 2021.

Meanwhile, job site Indeed found that 88% of workers said hybrid working was an important factor when looking for a new job, indicating that employers need to offer such work perks in order to attract and retain talent.

Receive news like this straight to your inbox by signing up to the Reward Strategy newsletter here.