I run a successful company and this is my brutal response to anyone who asks to work-from-home
Adam Schwab, co-founder and chief executive of Luxury Escapes, expects his workers to be in the office five days a week.
While many companies around Australia are embracing flexible work conditions as a perk that improves employee retention, Mr Schwab believes working from home is 'the worst thing ever'.
'It's hard to progress your career if you can't learn from other people. If people can't see you,' he told the Herald Sun.
'Unfortunately, getting promoted is often based on just who's in your proximity.'
Luxury Escapes has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, London and Singapore and has rapidly grown its team in the last six years.
Mr Schwab started the company in 2013 alongside his best friend from school, Jeremy Same.
The pair had run an accommodation business before and knew they wanted to focus on travel despite knowing next to nothing about the sector.
While Luxury Escapes did take a hit during the Covid lockdowns, Mr Schwab now has a team three times its pre-pandemic size.
His tech team alone grew from 30 in 2019 to 130 in 2025, while his total team went from 200 workers to 600.
The CEO claims his employee retention rate is exceptionally high, with less than 10 per cent of workers leaving annually.
This is in spite of the company not offering flexible working conditions.
'We are massive believers in working collaboratively with other people,' Mr Schwab said.
'If you'd rather work from home, maybe just work somewhere that does that. We're not for you.'
Instead of the ability to work from home, Mr Schwab has focused on building other employee perks at Luxury Escapes.
Those include a free breakfast and lunch in the office every day, onsite table tennis, a 20 per cent company discount, and referral and baby bonuses.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data found 36 per cent of Australians usually worked from home in August 2024.
The main reasons for remote working were to work more flexibly, followed by having a home-based job and lastly, to catch up on work after hours.
However, Mr Schwab wants his company to retain the ethic of a start-up with workers collaborating in person.
So, despite the company being 12 years old, he prefers to act as though it's still on 'day one'.
'We want our team to be super entrepreneurial. We love when people try something and make a mistake and get it wrong, but then learn from it,' Mr Schwab said.
'You miss 100 per cent of the shots you don't take.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
11 minutes ago
- BBC News
'A mammoth undertaking' - Lions' life on the road
Third Test: Australia v British and Irish LionsDate: Saturday 2 August Venue: Accor Stadium Kick-off: 11:00 BSTCoverage: Live text commentary and post-match analysis on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC iPlayer and online Boiling four nations down to one team, cooking up a gameplan in four weeks and getting to Test match temperature on enemy territory.A Lions tour is unique for players and for the team behind the team, a whistle-stop itinerary, vast distances and a host of unknowns also present a recipe for potential in Sydney for the tourists' final stop, Tom Day is one of the team to help avert it."This is a mammoth undertaking when you consider transporting a playing squad and backroom team to and from the southern hemisphere, and then around the touring country itself," says Day, the team's logistics manager. The Lions come with considerable baggage - almost 10 tonnes were brought to Australia with consists of four sets of identical training kits, which were then divided up and sent around Australia. Wherever the Lions arrive, they find a lorry container of equipment, including a scrum sled, on the side of the pitch to help them set was driven the 2,390 miles from Perth to Sydney, a distance equivalent to London to Siberia, to be in the right place at the right time. In total, the plan stretches to 53 separate truck journeys covering about 7,000 miles. "One set of kit will always be ahead of us and the sets of kit yo-yo around the country, so that when we leave one city, the arrival into the next city is already sorted as there is kit there and the hotels and training grounds are already set-up," explains is also part of an advance party that is one step ahead of the squad on the ground. Along with a member of the security team, Day makes sure any last-minute wrinkles that have cropped up since recce trips in September and January are ironed out before the players Saturday's third Test in Sydney, the Lions will head back home with a series win, but without their is being left in Australia and donated to local clubs and schools, rather than shipped back to Dublin. The long-haul nature of a Lions tour means it also comes with considerable carbon cost.A return flight from London to Sydney generates around 2,484 kg of carbon dioxide per passenger, just from the burning of fuel. Emissions at high altitude are also almost three times more harmful than at ground Lions have committed to offsetting all of the carbon, external created by their tour party's travel, as well as that created by their fans' travel and the team's business operations at a cost of more than £250,000.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Tennis at the Australian Open, a visit to Ramsey Street... and Roar & Uncut tracks down James Haskell in the pool during the Lions' tour
Nik and Kev's Lions tour adventure continued as they arrived in Melbourne for the crescendo moment of the series. They touched down in Victoria where they were reunited with some old friends to show them the city that prides itself on being every bit different. With hidden gems around every corner, they ended up stepping out of the rugby bubble to experience street art, coffee culture and the state's vibrant multi-culture. Here is what the guys got up to in the fifth episode of Roar & Uncut, in association with Dr Squatch. MONDAY It was an early start for the Wallabies ' press conference at the Crowne Plaza Melbourne by IHG. As the official tour partners, IHG decked out the riverside hotel with paraphernalia ahead of the big match, so we checked out their pop-up bar before heading out of town to Ramsay Street. The Neighbours set brought back a few teenage memories, visiting the houses that played out so many storylines for the likes of the Bishops and the Kennedies. TUESDAY All kitted up, we made tracks to the iconic blue tennis courts that host the Australian Open. Kev prides himself on being the Essex schoolboys champion at Under 15 level so we brought Mail Sport columnist Dan Biggar along to step up the competition. Dan was a professional sportsman until last month and his athleticism shone through, wiping the court with both of us to win the inaugural Dr Squatch trophy. After the match, we stopped off at Proud Mary, which was recently named in the top 10 coffee shops in the world, to fuel up before the Lions match against the Pasifika XV. WEDNESDAY We boarded a boat up the river for a memorable tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It is a colossus of an arena, with 100,024 seats that host concerts, AFL, cricket and more. Damien Fleming, Australia's fast bowler from the 1990s, gave the travelling media a private tour, joining us for lunch in the Long Room. Come Christmas, the iconic stadium will be packed to its old rafters for the upcoming Ashes series. THURSDAY After Andy Farrell and Joe Schmidt named their teams for the second Test, we visited the Lightscape exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens. It was an immersive display featuring dozens of illuminations, strolling through floral canopies that offered an enchanting escape from the day-to-day touring schedule. And then it was back to the MCG, where the Hawks were hosting Carlton in an all-Victorian AFL derby. FRIDAY Our hotel, the voco Melbourne Central by IHG, was situated in the heart of the action. We were surrounded by the bright lights of China Town, vibrant street art and independent outlets on every corner. James Haskell and Mike Tindall were also staying in our hotel, as part of their work with the The Good, The Bad & The Rugby. We caught up with Haskell in the hotel's skyline swimming pool, where he shared a few hilarious anecdotes from his rugby career. SATURDAY Match day in Melbourne, but not before some fish and chips down on the beach in St Kilda. We boarded the city's free tram service for a hit of sea air, enjoying the winter coastline. Then it was back to the MCG to join more than 90,000 supporters for the series-defining Test. Kev was a guest of Qatar Airways in their hospitality area, while Nik was sat up in the media tribune to report on a thrilling Lions victory for the ages. Roar & Uncut comes to you in association with Dr Squatch, ensuring Nik and Kev are the best-smelling guys on tour.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Real estate agent turns on his industry to blast 'fake' tactics being used to fool buyers and drive up prices
A real estate agent has hit out at the 'fake' tactics used by some industry colleagues, which has led to Aussies having a less than flattering perception of the sector. Jordan Bulmer, 30, is a sales agent at McGrath in Terrigal, on the NSW Central Coast, and he's set on exposing some of the hated tactics used by his colleagues. First and foremost, the agent took to TikTok to address the 'fake offer' strategy. He blasted the trick as being increasingly used by some in the industry to drive up the price of a property. Mr Bulmer said he's 'not into this' as he hit out at those who use this tactic. 'The minute a person makes an offer there is suddenly another offer on the table, I don't know why agents do this,' he said. 'If someone comes to me and says, 'Has there been an offer on the property?' and there hasn't, I say, 'No, there hasn't'. I haven't found the right person, there doesn't have to be an offer on every property.' Mr Bulmer said he would then discuss with his client the options if they were interested in buying the property. He stated he would want to find a price where 'everybody's happy' and warned other agents against 'fake offers'. The agent was flooded with comments from Aussies who have subjected to this underhand tactic. One commented: 'We had an agent try that scam so we told the particular agent great sell it to them. 'Then for the next couple of days they kept calling saying come on let's make the sale. We them blocked their number.' 'I had this,' another agreed. 'I made an offer. Was told there was a better offer. Kept being 'Outbid'. That was the first time I got scammed by an agent. 'Funnily enough, after about a week after I realised what was going on and pulled out. I got a call asking if I was still interested at my last offer amount. Nope.' Someone else wrote: 'I put an offer in the agent said there are two other buyers so I kept upping the offer and they kept pushing till I said I'm out. 'They ring back the next day saying the other buyers have dropped out so do you want the property. Yeah nah I'll pass thanks.' Mr Bulmer said there's 'no need' for agents to use 'fake' tactics when selling a property. 'I don't understand why some agents do some of the things that frustrate the living daylights out of people. I just don't get it,' he told 'Like as if real estate agents, after all this time, can't tell that people know that they're playing games. It blows my mind sometimes. 'I find that just such a silly thing to do, but it seems to happen so much.' Mr Bulmer said he's trying show his clients they can trust him by being transparent and hopes to proof that not all real estate agents use underhand tactics to make a sale. Fellow real estate agent and auctioneer Tom Panos agreed that fake tactics are unnecessary and only serve to damage perceptions of the industry. He pointed out the tactic of 'catfish homes' in which real estate agents post edited images of properties on their website listings to make them look better than they do in person. 'A real estate agent has an ethical responsibility to get the best price for the vendor (seller) who is their client and pays them. So it really is buyer beware,' he said. Another tactic he said was to door-knock a street where there is an auction set to take place and invite the neighbours to stop by on auction day, thus building an illusion that the property is more hotly contested. Similarly, when buyers register to bid on auction day they might give them bidding numbers that are higher than the actual bidders. 'So instead of one, two, three they might say 10, 11, 12,' he said. He encouraged buyers to undertake their own research before agreeing to purchase a property by looking at comparable prices on property sites like Corelogic and consulting with building inspectors who can check for defects. 'People often more research planning a holiday or buying a car than they do buying a property.'
