Alan Sugar says people who work from home are ‘lazy’ and should be ‘paid less’

Lord Alan Sugar has ruffled feathers this week with his thoughts on people who still work from home. 

The billionaire businessman and host of The Apprentice evidently isn’t too impressed with people who continue to earn their living from the comfort of their sofa in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

In response to a headline about the government’s plans to sell £1.5bn worth of Whitehall offices that stand empty thanks to the work from home lifestyle, Lord Sugar launched a series of scathing tweets claiming people were ‘watching golf and tennis at home’ when they ought to be working.

He wrote: “Lazy gits watching golf and tennis at home while they [sic] supposed to be working. We the tax payer are paying the. [sic] Get them back to the office or fire them’.

He later took aim at some of the comments made on Good Morning Britain, which suggested those who work from home should be paid more to heat their homes, arguing that they ‘should be paid less’.

His tweet read: “@GMB are saying people who work from home should be paid more to keep warm as companies are saving money while the worker are away.

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“RUBBISH they have to pay rent, heating and rates with or without a full work place. People should be paid less they are saving travel costs.”

Many people took issue with the businessman’s tweets, with one person replying: “How absolutely insulting. The majority of people who work from home are more likely to work longer and outside the normal office hours.”

Another person commented: “It’s amazing how far behind you are with current times, considering you’re a billionaire.

“People who work from home are more productive, which you’d know if you remove your head out of your backside long enough to see.”

At this, a clearly irritated Lord Sugar responded: “Listen scum bag most who work from home watch more TV than work. There are a few exceptions but the majority are lazy gits. When some of my companies recruit the first question asked by some applicants is ‘can I work from home’. They are shown the door.”

According to the 2022 Census, around one in seven working adults (14%) worked from home exclusively between April 27th and May 8th 2022.