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I'll never go back to ‘depressing UK' – I quit my waitress job to jet off & now rake in £120k a year living in paradise
I'll never go back to ‘depressing UK' – I quit my waitress job to jet off & now rake in £120k a year living in paradise

The Sun

timean hour ago

  • Entertainment
  • The Sun

I'll never go back to ‘depressing UK' – I quit my waitress job to jet off & now rake in £120k a year living in paradise

A WAITRESS who quit her job in London with just £1,000 to her name now earns up to £10,000 a month and says she'll never return to the UK. Kelly Wickramasuriya, 24, packed her bags and moved to Thailand at just 21, expecting to run out of money within weeks. 5 5 But now she lives between Bali and Dubai, enjoying year-round sunshine, luxury apartments and a life she says is miles away from her old one. Kelly said: 'I find the UK super depressing. 'People are always complaining and have a victim mindset.' Originally from Essex, Kelly says she was stuck in a rut, working long shifts at an Italian restaurant in Covent Garden, scraping by on low wages and only going out for special occasions. 'I couldn't afford the amount of hobbies I have right now,' she said. 'Back then, my big treat was going to the pub at the weekend. Now, I do acroyoga, take singing classes and learn languages – all under the sun.' After graduating from uni in 2022, Kelly booked a one-way ticket to Thailand, hoping to travel for the summer before reality pulled her back home. She added: 'I had £1,000 in my account. I thought I'd be sofa-surfing back in the UK by the end of the month. 'But I was desperate not to go back.' Instead, she scoured the internet for ways to make money remotely and stumbled across user-generated content (UGC) creation, filming videos for brands to post on social media. Strictly star reveals she's quitting UK to live in Dubai without boyfriend who grew up there Kelly explained: 'I started creating content for brands and it just took off. I'm now earning five times what I made as a waitress." These days, her 'office' is wherever she wants. It could be a sunbed in Bali, her Dubai apartment balcony or a beachfront café in Thailand. She also travels regularly to Australia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. Her day-to-day routine is a far cry from her old life in grey, chilly London. She added: 'I wake up with no alarm, meditate for an hour, then hit the gym or grab breakfast at a cute café. "I work a few hours and then I'm off to a class or hobby, whatever I feel like.' Kelly says the shift in her mental health since leaving the UK has been huge and it's not just the sunshine that's helped. 'The people and the energy are totally different. "Everyone is friendlier and happier. It rubs off on you. In the UK, it's cold and people are just miserable.' Despite missing her loved ones, Kelly insists her relationships haven't suffered. She said: 'We FaceTime all the time, and they come out to visit me. My best friends are now scattered all over the world and I love that.' She's even inspired her family to follow in her footsteps. She said: 'My mum started UGC too, she's 55, has a full-time job and managed to fly herself out to see me. If she can do it, anyone can.' And while she'll occasionally pop back to Essex to visit, Kelly says her future is firmly overseas. 'I'll go home to see family for a month every year or two but that's it. The UK is one of the most depressing countries in the world. "After living abroad, I completely get why.' She added: 'It's really not hard to change your life. If it doesn't work out, you can always go back – but I know I never will.' She's not the only Brit trading dreary, concrete skylines for golden sands. A young woman recently revealed how her health improved after she moved from the UK to Dubai, saying life at home was 'making her sick'. Ela Reeves was struggling with a series of health conditions prior to the move, including chronic fatigue, sore joints and acne. With her body 'crying out for change', she decided to try life in sunnier climes and jetted off to Dubai for a new life in January and has never looked back. How easy is it to move abroad? Brexit means British citizens now have to apply for visas to move to countries within the EU. While some countries residency restrictions are easier than others, here's what you need to do at home before moving: Notify HMRC about your upcoming move. Let your local authority know and provide a forwarding address. Contact your mortgage and utility providers and bank before leaving. If you have paid enough UK national insurance contributions, you can qualify for a state pension abroad - contact the International Pension Centre. You can sign up to the Royal Mail's redirection service. If you have outstanding student loans, contact the Student Loans Centre. If you have children, give due notice to childcares and schools. 5 5 5

How Lord Hermer's staff racked up a £1.2MILLION work from home bill
How Lord Hermer's staff racked up a £1.2MILLION work from home bill

Daily Mail​

time11 hours ago

  • Business
  • Daily Mail​

How Lord Hermer's staff racked up a £1.2MILLION work from home bill

More than £1million has been spent on work from home equipment by government departments that report to Attorney General Lord Hermer. The Government Legal Department, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office have spent more than £1.24million in the last three years on computers, desks and other equipment to enable remote work. Overall, agencies in eight departments have spent nearly £3million on similar equipment, despite ministers saying they want to see more people working in the office. The figures were revealed in response to parliamentary questions from a Tory MP. TaxPayers' Alliance spokesman Shimeon Lee urged ministers to 'get a grip and put the public back at the heart of public service'. He told The Sunday Telegraph: 'Taxpayers will be dismayed to know that we are still investing in a work from home culture. 'Remote working has become the norm in the public sector, with little regard for productivity, accountability or value for money.' Energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said the spending 'reflected an increased headcount to deliver additional remit for government priorities and steps to reduce its London office footprint to save money.' Other work-from-home highrollers included the Health and Safety Executive, a public body sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, which spent £955,099, and Ofgem, energy regulator in Labour's Net Zero department, at £396,486. Lord Hermer is a former barrister and a friend of Sir Keir Starmer. He was handed a peerage and was parachuted in to the high-profile role after the election. But some Downing Street aides are reported to be pressing for his removal as part of an autumn relaunch. He is said to be a key figure in the controversial deal to surrender the Chagos Islands, the decision to repeal laws protecting British veterans of the Northern Ireland Troubles from prosecution and the Government's refusal to help defend Israel during the conflict with Iran. Last month Lord Hermer rubbished claims of a 'two-tier' justice system in Britain as 'disgusting' and 'wrong'. Such accusations arose following last summer's riots after the Southport murders were policed more strongly and the early release of prisoners to tackle overcrowding. Lord Hermer said: 'What some people were seeking to do, bringing up 'two-tier', was to make a comparison with the way people were being treated for trying to kill police officers – and I want to reiterate that, kill police officers – with the response to protests on the streets of London. We don't have a two-tiered justice system.'

More men are returning to the office. Here's why that matters for women.
More men are returning to the office. Here's why that matters for women.

Yahoo

time12 hours ago

  • Business
  • Yahoo

More men are returning to the office. Here's why that matters for women.

The return to office is in full swing, but you might notice more men around the water cooler. According to the Department of Labor, men are returning to the office in greater numbers than women. In 2024, 29% of employed men reported working from home, down from 34% the previous year. Approximately 36% of women worked from home last year, unchanged from 2023. What's behind these numbers? It's likely a result of return-to-office initiatives in male-dominated industries like tech, Cory Stahle, senior economist at Indeed, told Yahoo Finance. Women accounted for only about a quarter of computer and mathematical jobs in 2024, according to the data. For some roles, like computer programmers and computer hardware engineers, the share is even lower — 17.8% and 14.3% — respectively. 'Many of these return-to-office efforts are coming at a time when demand for workers in male-dominated industries has weakened, giving employers the upper hand,' Stahle said. As for the unbudging number of women working remotely over that two-year period, there could be an explanation for that finding as well, according to Stahle. Female-dominated fields such as private education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and state and local government have been less affected by return-to-work mandates, he said. 'Many of the jobs in these industries are already in-person roles.' Obstacle for gender equity Whether women are trying to move up or break into fields where office time is required, the trend away from remote arrangements could have far-reaching repercussions for gender equity. Here's why: Nearly 9 in 10 CEOs said in a 2024 survey that they 'will reward employees who make an effort to come into the office with favorable assignments, raises, or promotions.' That could also play out in the gender wage gap that has persisted across industries for decades. Last year, women earned an average of 85% of what men earned, according to Pew Research Center. Will the pay gap get worse if in-office attendance is a prerequisite for pay bumps? "In theory, remote work can be viewed as either a positive or negative amenity: It may offer greater scheduling flexibility, enhancing work-life balance, but it may also limit access to face-to-face mentoring and raise concerns about potential career growth penalties,' said Zoë Cullen, a lead researcher for a National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) study on remote work. We do know that roughly 8 in 10 CEOs envision a full return to the office in the next three years, and many of those making it mandatory have threatened employees with termination if they fail to follow the company's return-to-office mandate. So far, the types of jobs being hit by these mandates have been well-paying, white-collar roles, Stahle said. 'If a worker can't or chooses not to return to the office and loses their higher-paying job as a result, that will have clear implications for the pay gap and the economy,' he said. The arc of remote work Remote work has been facing into the wind all year. Organizations that describe their workplace environment as remote shrank dramatically between 2024 and 2025, according to a study by Payscale. Despite the pressure, plenty of workers, not just women, are standing their ground on full-blown return-to-office attendance and are willing to take a pay cut to hold on to some flexibility. A majority of job candidates would accept a pay cut to work remotely, according to a new survey by Criteria Corp. On average, employees are willing to accept a 25% pay cut for partly or fully remote roles, according to the NBER study. All that said, the balance of power has shifted. In 2023, when workers had the upper hand in a tight labor market, the odds of being penalized for not coming into the office were low, or in many cases, not realistic for employers, who were well aware that workplace flexibility was one way that they could hang on to and lure skilled workers. Return-to-office demands by many tech-oriented employers, including Amazon, Google, and Meta, hit a fever pitch earlier this year. 'In a softening labor market, employers have more leverage to demand in-office work,' Marc Cenedella, founder of Ladders Inc., a career site for jobs that pay $100,000 or more, told Yahoo Finance. 'The great resignation is over. The great return is upon us.' Sign up for the Mind Your Money weekly newsletter By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy Hybrid to the rescue Compromise, however, has inched in. And that playbook can work for many women, who still shoulder a disproportionate share of caregiving responsibilities for children and aging parents, and need and value flexibility more than men. Flexible work benefits have stabilized enough to suggest a permanent place in employers' benefits, according to a new SHRM Employee Benefits Survey. Overall, hybrid office environments — where attendance is generally three days a week for so-called knowledge workers (not front-line ones) — are the norm now at more than half of companies, followed by traditional office environments at 27%, with remote-first environments making up only 16% of office types, per Payscale data. In fact, while 4 in 10 organizations deployed a return-to-office mandate in recent years, an increasing number have done a bit of soft shoe around the specific requirements and have loosened the rules depending on job type and for those who are top aging population factor Long-term trends in the workforce could ultimately help women gain ground. 'As the baby boomer generation ages and companies grapple with fewer younger workers and our labor market tightens, companies can't afford to overlook any segment of the workforce, especially women,' said Gwenn Rosener, co-founder of recruiting firm FlexProfessionals. Because fewer people are born each year, our workforce is going to start to shrink, and we need workers to make products, provide services, and pay taxes, Bradley Schurman, a demographic strategist, told Yahoo Finance. 'So, as we enter this period of the Super Age, with more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 18, this is going to create market conditions that are going to increase the demand for workers of all ages because the supply is so low,' he said. 'Women will be able to negotiate for greater benefits and for greater salaries and more flexibility. And it's not just women, disabled and other marginalized groups will likely benefit too." Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including the forthcoming "Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future," "In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work," and "Never Too Old to Get Rich." Follow her on Bluesky. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

More men are returning to the office. Here's why that matters for women.
More men are returning to the office. Here's why that matters for women.

Yahoo

time19 hours ago

  • Business
  • Yahoo

More men are returning to the office. Here's why that matters for women.

The return to office is in full swing, but you might notice more men around the water cooler. According to the Department of Labor, men are returning to the office in greater numbers than women. In 2024, 29% of employed men reported working from home, down from 34% the previous year. Approximately 36% of women worked from home last year, unchanged from 2023. What's behind these numbers? It's likely a result of return-to-office initiatives in male-dominated industries like tech, Cory Stahle, senior economist at Indeed, told Yahoo Finance. Women accounted for only about a quarter of computer and mathematical jobs in 2024, according to the data. For some roles, like computer programmers and computer hardware engineers, the share is even lower — 17.8% and 14.3% — respectively. 'Many of these return-to-office efforts are coming at a time when demand for workers in male-dominated industries has weakened, giving employers the upper hand,' Stahle said. As for the unbudging number of women working remotely over that two-year period, there could be an explanation for that finding as well, according to Stahle. Female-dominated fields such as private education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and state and local government have been less affected by return-to-work mandates, he said. 'Many of the jobs in these industries are already in-person roles.' Obstacle for gender equity Whether women are trying to move up or break into fields where office time is required, the trend away from remote arrangements could have far-reaching repercussions for gender equity. Here's why: Nearly 9 in 10 CEOs said in a 2024 survey that they 'will reward employees who make an effort to come into the office with favorable assignments, raises, or promotions.' That could also play out in the gender wage gap that has persisted across industries for decades. Last year, women earned an average of 85% of what men earned, according to Pew Research Center. Will the pay gap get worse if in-office attendance is a prerequisite for pay bumps? "In theory, remote work can be viewed as either a positive or negative amenity: It may offer greater scheduling flexibility, enhancing work-life balance, but it may also limit access to face-to-face mentoring and raise concerns about potential career growth penalties,' said Zoë Cullen, a lead researcher for a National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) study on remote work. We do know that roughly 8 in 10 CEOs envision a full return to the office in the next three years, and many of those making it mandatory have threatened employees with termination if they fail to follow the company's return-to-office mandate. So far, the types of jobs being hit by these mandates have been well-paying, white-collar roles, Stahle said. 'If a worker can't or chooses not to return to the office and loses their higher-paying job as a result, that will have clear implications for the pay gap and the economy,' he said. The arc of remote work Remote work has been facing into the wind all year. Organizations that describe their workplace environment as remote shrank dramatically between 2024 and 2025, according to a study by Payscale. Despite the pressure, plenty of workers, not just women, are standing their ground on full-blown return-to-office attendance and are willing to take a pay cut to hold on to some flexibility. A majority of job candidates would accept a pay cut to work remotely, according to a new survey by Criteria Corp. On average, employees are willing to accept a 25% pay cut for partly or fully remote roles, according to the NBER study. All that said, the balance of power has shifted. In 2023, when workers had the upper hand in a tight labor market, the odds of being penalized for not coming into the office were low, or in many cases, not realistic for employers, who were well aware that workplace flexibility was one way that they could hang on to and lure skilled workers. Return-to-office demands by many tech-oriented employers, including Amazon, Google, and Meta, hit a fever pitch earlier this year. 'In a softening labor market, employers have more leverage to demand in-office work,' Marc Cenedella, founder of Ladders Inc., a career site for jobs that pay $100,000 or more, told Yahoo Finance. 'The great resignation is over. The great return is upon us.' Sign up for the Mind Your Money weekly newsletter By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy Hybrid to the rescue Compromise, however, has inched in. And that playbook can work for many women, who still shoulder a disproportionate share of caregiving responsibilities for children and aging parents, and need and value flexibility more than men. Flexible work benefits have stabilized enough to suggest a permanent place in employers' benefits, according to a new SHRM Employee Benefits Survey. Overall, hybrid office environments — where attendance is generally three days a week for so-called knowledge workers (not front-line ones) — are the norm now at more than half of companies, followed by traditional office environments at 27%, with remote-first environments making up only 16% of office types, per Payscale data. In fact, while 4 in 10 organizations deployed a return-to-office mandate in recent years, an increasing number have done a bit of soft shoe around the specific requirements and have loosened the rules depending on job type and for those who are top aging population factor Long-term trends in the workforce could ultimately help women gain ground. 'As the baby boomer generation ages and companies grapple with fewer younger workers and our labor market tightens, companies can't afford to overlook any segment of the workforce, especially women,' said Gwenn Rosener, co-founder of recruiting firm FlexProfessionals. Because fewer people are born each year, our workforce is going to start to shrink, and we need workers to make products, provide services, and pay taxes, Bradley Schurman, a demographic strategist, told Yahoo Finance. 'So, as we enter this period of the Super Age, with more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 18, this is going to create market conditions that are going to increase the demand for workers of all ages because the supply is so low,' he said. 'Women will be able to negotiate for greater benefits and for greater salaries and more flexibility. And it's not just women, disabled and other marginalized groups will likely benefit too." Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including the forthcoming "Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future," "In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work," and "Never Too Old to Get Rich." Follow her on Bluesky. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

For the first time since COVID, more than half of Fortune 100 companies have mandated workers fully return to work as hybrid options wither
For the first time since COVID, more than half of Fortune 100 companies have mandated workers fully return to work as hybrid options wither

Yahoo

time20 hours ago

  • Business
  • Yahoo

For the first time since COVID, more than half of Fortune 100 companies have mandated workers fully return to work as hybrid options wither

Fortune 100 employees may need to prepare their good-byes to hybrid work. For the first time since the onset of COVID, more than half of Fortune 100 companies have fully in-office policies, according to new data from real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. In 2023, only 5% of those firms were completely RTO. While larger firms may be leading the RTO charge, most companies, particularly smaller ones, are likely to still favor flexible work options. The age of remote work is coming to a close for the Fortune 100. For the first time since the pandemic, the majority of Fortune 100 companies now have a fully in-office policy for their employees, according to a new report from real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL). Compared to two years ago, when 78% of Fortune 100 companies were hybrid and 5% were fully in-office, those firms are now 41% hybrid and 54% fully in-office. The stark shift comes as the companies require workers in the office an average of 3.8 days a week compared to 2.6 days in 2023, per the report. Return-to-office mandates have continued to shake up workplace culture, with Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol requiring more corporate employees this week to relocate to the coffee chain's Seattle office and to show up in-person four days a week. Google and Amazon are among other corporate giants pushing employees back to the office, citing in-person work as a boon to productivity, particularly in the AI race. Despite evidence that RTO mandates haven't always translated to increased office attendance, JLL reported a 1.3% year-over-year increase in office attendance in the first two months of 2025's second quarter. Busier offices have coincided with record-high rents for high-end offices, primarily 'trophy buildings across Miami, New York City, San Francisco and other markets,' the report said. Office vacancies, however, continue to persist, hovering above 22%. Inventory declined by 700,000 square feet in the last quarter, indicating demolitions or mixed-use and residential conversions are outpacing office construction. The Fortune 100's different RTO reality Though the U.S.'s largest 100 companies by revenue are reveling in bustling office spaces swelling with workers, the story of the rest of the country's return-to-office push is much less dramatic. Compared to the Fortune 100's mass shift to full-time RTO, U.S. employees with remote-capable jobs have largely maintained the hybrid work status quo over the last two years, with 51% working hybrid in 2025 compared to 52% in May 2023, 28% working exclusively remote compared to 29% in May 2023; and 21% working completely in-person compared to 20% in May 2023, according to recent Gallup Poll data. According to Mark Ma, associate professor of business administration at the University of Pittsburgh, Fortune 100 companies are leading the RTO push simply because they can afford to do so. 'Amazon can lose 1,000 talented IT workers with no problem,' he told Fortune. 'There is still a lineup of young college graduates from maybe Carnegie Mellon or other excellent universities who still want to work for Amazon because that's the Magnificent Seven. 'But the smaller firms, it is harder for them to do it because once they lose some important employees, maybe no one else in their firm can do the job,' he continued. 'It's a completely different story for smaller firms.' While massive tech companies like Amazon may be employing RTO even as a means to push employees out, small firms have to be more careful with managing their workforce, who continue to prefer hybrid over in-person (or entirely remote) work. It figures, then, that smaller firms would also be less interested in coughing up rent for an office employees are less interested in frequenting and that present a potential liability, should the company need to look to cut costs in times of economic hardship. Cities like Pittsburgh, where the office vacancy rate is about 20%, are seeing high demand for luxury office buildings with slick amenities—likely favored by larger employers who can afford to offer RTO perks—while older buildings continue to languish. The future of hybrid work For the U.S. workforce outside the Fortune 100, the phenomenon of hybrid work is unlikely to disappear anytime soon, Ma argued. He has found that CEOs of companies with RTO policies skew older and more male than the average for executives of U.S. public firms. Younger, scrappier companies, conversely, have executives with the same traits and are more likely to lead remote-friendly workplaces, both because of a generational shift in work attitudes, but also because of the practical advantages of smaller businesses having fewer overhead costs. 'In the long term, with the younger generation taking over, I think the CEOs will be willing to [give more] flexibility,' Ma said. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

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