Adam Schwab: Aussie CEO says working from home is the ‘worst thing ever'
Adam Schwab, Luxury Escapes chief executive, said his workers are expected to be in office for the entire five day working week.
He told the Herald Sun that working from home is 'the worst thing ever', and that it is hard to 'progress your career if you can't learn from other people'.
Mr Schwab went on to claim that work promotions are often based on 'who's in your proximity'.
'It's hard to progress your career if you can't learn from other people. If people can't see you. Unfortunately, getting promoted is often based on just who's in your proximity,' he said.
He says flexible working arrangements can be available when needed, but that employees must always provide a reason.
'Obviously, if someone has a real need we'll work around that.'
Luxury Escapes was founded in 2013 by both Mr Schwab and his friend from school, Jeremy Sane.
The company has grown from a small Australian based team, to a now global company with more than 600 employees.
Mr Schwab said Luxury Escapes' employee retention rate is very high, with less than 10 per cent leaving the company each year.
The CEO said this is a good number and that percentage of people leaving represents those who get a different job or are retiring.
He said he believes in collaboration, and told employees that would rather work from home to instead find another job, claiming Luxury Escapes is 'not for (them)'.
Luxury Escapes now has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, London, Barcelona and Singapore.
Mr Schwab began his professional career as a lawyer.
'I thought I really wanted to be a lawyer. And then you do it and you realise it's really not good. It's pretty boring. It's really long hours. I was an okay lawyer … but (there were) people who were really, really good lawyers. I wasn't ever going to be that.'
Both Mr Schawb and Mr Sane decided to leave their corporate jobs behind and started a short term accommodation business in Melbourne.
They then created Luxury Escapes after deciding to work in the travel business, and the company now has more than eight million members.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
4 hours ago
- The Age
Jail for former Indonesian trade minister over sugar imports a bitter blow for supporters
One of the architects of the Indonesia-Australia free trade deal and improved bilateral relations has been jailed in what supporters believe was a politically motivated prosecution designed to punish critics of the Indonesian government. Thomas Lembong was jailed for 4½ years for illegally authorising certain sugar imports at the expense of the state when he was serving as the nation's trade minister in 2015-16. Prosecutors requested a prison term of seven years, but a panel of judges gave Lembong a sentencing discount because they accepted he had not enriched himself in any of the supposedly corrupt deals. The Harvard-educated investment banker is respected in Australian political circles for his work in the cabinet of then-president Joko Widodo's cabinet and later as the chief of the country's investment board. Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull credited Lembong with facilitating what became a strong friendship between the Australian leader and Widodo. Loading But Lembong became a critic of Widodo in 2019. Significantly, he also served as an adviser to Anies Baswedan, who ran for president last year and was a serious challenger to Widodo's chosen successor, Prabowo Subianto. Anies could again run for president in 2029. Lembong was arrested in October, days after Prabowo was sworn in as Indonesia's leader and a decade after the supposed crimes. The timing and allegedly 'cherry-picked' charges against a high-profile opponent to the Widodo-Prabowo alliance set off red flags among democracy watchers. High-level corruption is common in Indonesia, and decisions about whom to prosecute and whom to leave alone are, rightly or wrongly, interpreted as signals from powerful people at the top.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Jail for former Indonesian trade minister over sugar imports a bitter blow for supporters
One of the architects of the Indonesia-Australia free trade deal and improved bilateral relations has been jailed in what supporters believe was a politically motivated prosecution designed to punish critics of the Indonesian government. Thomas Lembong was jailed for 4½ years for illegally authorising certain sugar imports at the expense of the state when he was serving as the nation's trade minister in 2015-16. Prosecutors requested a prison term of seven years, but a panel of judges gave Lembong a sentencing discount because they accepted he had not enriched himself in any of the supposedly corrupt deals. The Harvard-educated investment banker is respected in Australian political circles for his work in the cabinet of then-president Joko Widodo's cabinet and later as the chief of the country's investment board. Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull credited Lembong with facilitating what became a strong friendship between the Australian leader and Widodo. Loading But Lembong became a critic of Widodo in 2019. Significantly, he also served as an adviser to Anies Baswedan, who ran for president last year and was a serious challenger to Widodo's chosen successor, Prabowo Subianto. Anies could again run for president in 2029. Lembong was arrested in October, days after Prabowo was sworn in as Indonesia's leader and a decade after the supposed crimes. The timing and allegedly 'cherry-picked' charges against a high-profile opponent to the Widodo-Prabowo alliance set off red flags among democracy watchers. High-level corruption is common in Indonesia, and decisions about whom to prosecute and whom to leave alone are, rightly or wrongly, interpreted as signals from powerful people at the top.
Perth Now
9 hours ago
- Perth Now
Faxes to apps: CommSec's 30 years of shaping investing
Fiona Bennett started trading in 1996, calling "sell, sell" into her phone at a morning tea surrounded by fellow mothers. "Everyone was teasing me afterwards," she told AAP. "Most people, especially all the mums, didn't have any idea about investing." At the time, Ms Bennett's husband was overseas and had asked her to sell the shares on his behalf. But she soon began trading for herself. "I was very popular at dinner parties and everybody wanted tips." she said. Ms Bennett collected information through newspapers and word-of-mouth and her trades were done over the phone and using fax machines. "It was really hard to know and, trust me, I had a few losses," she said. Now 65, she was one of CommSec's earliest customers. The online trading platform, parented by the CBA, is this week celebrating its 30th anniversary, having paved the way for Australian investors. In 1997, CommSec became the first Australian broker to launch a share trading website, and in 2008, the first to have its own iPhone trading app. The company now facilitates 40,000 trades per day, worth a total of $575 million. It's a far cry from their opening day in 1995, where a total of four trades were put through, worth $75 each. Market analyst Tom Piotrowski started working for CommSec more than 20 years ago, back when the company's team fitted onto a single floor. He has worked through the vast majority of the biggest days on the ASX, entering the company just after the volatile Y2K period, swiftly followed by the Global Financial Crisis, then most recently the COVID-19 pandemic. "I don't know if it was me turning up that translated to this run of bad luck, but it certainly made it interesting to be a participant in communicating these things to audiences," he said. "It's that type of environment that serves as education for people." The periods acted as catalysts for change according to Mr Piotrowski, who has overcome his camera shyness to feature on television, and social media videos providing information to customers. "I'd never appeared in front of a television camera before I worked with CommSec, that was very obvious to anyone who may have seen my early efforts," he said. "Terror is probably a personal feeling that I experienced quite a bit." CommSec services form just one part of the information now readily available to investors across multiple trading websites and apps. Ms Bennett didn't know any other women who traded when she started, but has noticed a shift with the increase in accessibility. The amount of CommSec investors under 40 have more than doubled over the past 10 years, while the percentage of women who invest has almost tripled over the past five years. "All my children trade, my daughter included," Ms Bennett said. "They're all confident enough to do it, they know what they're doing and they can get more information."
