'Work From Pub' deals can hamper 'brand and productivity'

2022-10-11

The WFP deals: Pubs offer unlimited tea and coffee, free WiFi and a pint at the end of the day for £7 to attract remote workers – as experts warn working from a boozer can ‘impact brand’ and ‘hamper productivity’

Pub and bar chains offering remote working deals from £7 per day to workers
Some offer lunch, free Wi-Fi, unlimited tea and coffee and a pint in their deals
HR experts and business leaders say this could hamper productivity
Brand image, professionalism and confidentiality are also concerns, they added

Pubs across the UK are offering unlimited tea, coffee, Wi-Fi and pints at the end of the day from £7 in a bid to attract remote workers.

Working from the pub is becoming the new working from home as Britons flee to more sociable venues, but business leaders and HR experts are warning working from a boozer could impact brand and hamper productivity.

Many chains across the UK are now offering deals from just £7 a day to attract remote workers amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Some 185 Young’s pubs around the UK offer brunch or lunch and unlimited tea and coffee at the pub’s co-working space for £15 per day.

Belushi’s, which has eight UK-based sites, offers working spaces including private meeting rooms with bottomless tea, coffee, and a house beer or wine at the end of the day for £7.

Brewdog was advertising unlimited tea, coffee, water and a pint at the day of the day for £10 at its 54 sites around the UK.

Pubs across the UK are offering unlimited tea, coffee, Wi-Fi and pints at the end of the day to attract remote workers

Stonegate’s Long Acre pub in Covent Garden was offering lunch, bottomless hot or soft drinks and ‘unlimited use of plugs and sockets’ for 2.5 hours for £12.50.

But HR experts are urging workers to read their employers’ remote working policy before flocking to pubs.

Alan Price, chief executive of BrightHR, said some companies have strict policies around where they consider to be an appropriate remote working venue and has seen disciplinary action being taken against those who flout this.

The HR expert said one of his clients’ top concerns was over protecting their brand image, and that pubs used as remote offices posed a challenge for employers worried about confidentiality.

‘Employers are concerned about brand, for example, if the laptop’s got their name on it, and in a pub they are concerned about confidentiality, if they are on a work call or if the laptop is open people can look on the screen.

‘However, the most important query we get is good, secure Wi-Fi,’ he said.

Belushi’s, which has eight UK-based sites, offers working spaces including private meeting rooms with bottomless tea, coffee, and a house beer or wine at the end of the day for £7

Mr Price said he advised employers about adapting remote working policies to safeguard confidentiality, such as having a secure connection or private place where you cannot be overheard, ‘which straight away rules out a lot of alternative work environments’.

He added: ‘Employees can to a degree harm their prospects especially if the environment they choose to work in isn’t solely devoted to their time.’

Mr Price said it was up to employees to ‘ensure that wherever they choose to work is professional for the environment and culture of the business’.

Meanwhile Dominic McGregor, co-founder of Social Chain, said that he supported ‘any positive environment where people can thrive, which I don’t think is a pub’.

He said pub working could be detrimental to professionalism, productivity and brand perception.

Many chains across the UK are now offering deals from just £7 a day to attract remote workers amid the ongoing cost of living crisis – but HR experts and business leaders have warned this could affect brand image and hamper creativity

Mr McGregor, who also co-founded Fearless Adventures in Wilmslow, said: ‘In terms of remote, we are completely happy but it has to be a professional environment where people can be productive.

‘A place where people can reap the benefits from working from home and those benefits don’t exist in a pub.’

Tom Stainer, chief executive of CAMRA, said that ‘the environment of the pub these days is very different to the stereotypical view that people have of pubs.

‘It’s not the backstreet boozer any more. Many are a perfect place for people to work, plug in, with free Wi-Fi, food offers, soft drinks and coffee.’

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association added: ‘For centuries, pubs have served the public and been at the heart of their communities.

‘Now, with many more of us working remotely, it’s a natural fit that pubs would be a place of choice for people to enjoy a more sociable working space.

‘Couple this rise in remote working with the pressure our pubs are currently facing on rising costs and these new ‘work from pub’ initiatives not only make good social sense, but good business sense as well.’

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