Gym and bear it
Working in an office whose decor and layout can best be described as a delightful mixture of prison cell and cattle truck, we were delighted to receive a four-page press release from Scarborough Building Society announcing how very pleased it was with its new ‘flagship headquarters’.
You won’t find the employees of Scarborough BS having to undergo the daily 35-mile round trip to the office well for water or negotiate the paper mountain that doubles as a fellow journalist’s desk. No sireee bob. Instead the Scarborough’s ‘modern purpose built premises’ boasts ‘spectacular views across a local nature reserve’. Fine if you’re Terry Nutkins or Bill Oddie but I’d want my staff keeping their focus on the job in hand.
But, the Scarborough have truly broken the mould with the following revolutionary development. Scarborough’s staff get ‘smart cards’ to pay for their onsite ‘food, refreshments, newspapers and magazines’. “It’s ironic that workers who are employed by the UK’s 18th largest building society do not have to carry any cash” so says the release. Right, so that’s ironic in an Alanis Morissette sense then.
Apparently ‘staff welfare’ is ‘a very high priority’ for the Scarborough. Not only do they get a well-equipped restaurant (knives and forks apparently) but a gym as well. Although you might be forgiven for thinking that the healthy lifestyle doesn’t extend to the vending machines. Coke, chocolate and crisps anyone?
As my mother would say: ‘No-one likes a show-off.’
