Hacks and flaks – stuck in pre-pandemic world

There was a nice interview with Virgin Money boss David Duffy at the weekend, highlighting his plans to shake-up banking, mostly it seems from home. His staff shall also be trusted to work when and where they choose.

My favourite bit was this: “Corporations used to be a control and penalty system. Now it’s trust and empower,” he said. Too much of the hack and flak trade appears not to get this.

The Telegraph in particular seems stuck in pre-pandemic world – staff say the control and penalty system remains rigidly in place.

That paper is looking for a Deputy Business Editor – you can read the job advert here. That ought to be a good job, but there must be some outstanding candidates put off by working demands.

By common consent, the young people starting at newspapers are not as talented as they used to be, because a job at a paper just isn’t as appealing as it was, partly because of old-fashioned approaches to work.

A couple of PR chiefs report the same, and note with some irritation that their own organisations want to shift back to old working patterns as much and as soon as possible.

This seems to be driven by older bosses who think working from home is basically skiving, and want the control that comes from having underlings where they can see them.

In the City, Goldman Sachs is among those who have seen WFH as an “aberration” and repeatedly told staff to get back to the office.

The bank, the newspapers and the PR firms are going to lose people they would far rather keep if they remain inflexible about this.