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This Wigan company has introduced a four-day working week so staff can ‘focus on themselves’

The switch has already proved a "big hit" with staff at Belmont Packaging.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 20th September 2021

A Wigan-based company has introduced a four-day working week in the hope it will “give staff more time to focus on themselves”.

The switch has already proved a “big hit” with staff at Belmont Packaging.

Belmont Packaging – which is based in the Hindley Green area of Wigan, and specialises in plain and printed corrugated cardboard – has joined the growing number of companies adjusting work schedules in light of the COVID-19 pandemic by opting for a four-day working week for its employees.

The company – along with its e-commerce sister business, Boxed-Up – began trialling the four-day week in its manufacturing department in late 2019.

The aim of the trial was to “give staff more time to focus on themselves, their mental health and their loved ones”.

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But after the switch to the shorter working week proved to be an “overwhelming success”, it is being rolled out to the rest of the business’ 31 staff members for good from today (20 September), Business Live reports.

“As well as valuing our customers, business trade partners and suppliers we also value our biggest assets, the employees whose hard work, commitment and dedication make our business the success it is,” said Gareth Rollo – Commercial Manager at Belmont Packaging.

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“In order to further recognise this, and to lead the way in employee health and wellbeing, we are delighted to announce an industry-leading change to ways of working which is intended to give our employees a better work-life balance while allowing us to continue giving our customers the first-class products and service they are accustomed to.”

The move comes after recent polls proved the majority of the UK working population would prefer a four-day working week.

The concept is also currently being trailed in Scotland.

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Belmont Packaging began trialling the four-day week in its manufacturing department in late 2019 / Credit: Belmont Packaging

But it’s clearly not for everyone, especially as last week, a Liverpool-based business owner took to LinkedIn to vent her “controversial” views on the topic, saying that while she doesn’t “begrudge” staff taking time off, for small firms, “every single person counts”.

Her post has received hundreds of reactions and comments, and comes as the debate over the four-day working week rages on.

Featured Image – Belmont Packaging

News

Manchester United reject offers for Mason Greenwood as rep says he ‘should be allowed to move forward with his young life’

Danny Jones Danny Jones Greenwood offers Turkish clubs United return

Manchester United have reportedly rejected a number of offers for Mason Greenwood as the club continues their internal investigation into his behaviour.

The club have reportedly received a number of offers for the young forward from Turkish teams in recent weeks and months while Greenwood has been suspended from playing or training. He has yet to return to the sport after charges of attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm were dropped.

The charges handed down in January 2022 were ultimately dropped last month when key witnesses withdrew, more than a year on from the incident that was widely circulated on social media.

Now, following a behind-the-scenes feature by The Athletic and ‘new material’ leading the Crown Prosecution Service to drop the case for the foreseeable, it seems United are now the only party still investigating Greenwood, with his own team and figures around the club pushing for a resolution.

Speaking to Laurie Whitwell as part of the piece, one of Greenwood’s representatives argued that there is “no real substance” to the allegations, them “a mix of old news, speculation, half-truths and completely untrue claims.”

He went on to say, “Mason is 21, he has been cleared and should be allowed the opportunity to rebuild and move forward with his young life.”

Another source is also said to have told the outlet that the youngster has been fundamentally changed by the experience, insisting that he “would run through a brick wall” to be back playing at United.

As for the club’s stance, it remains to be seen what their final decision on his future will be, but it was reported earlier this month that a potential return is still “firmly under consideration” and his number 11 shirt has not yet been vacated as many would have expected if he was set to move on.

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On the other hand, the article goes on to detail questions surrounding Greenwood’s conduct and general attitude during his relatively short time as a senior player too, the suggestion being that he was slacking in training because “he knew he was a good player”.

His attendance at Carrington is said to have been raised as an issue on more than one occasion and then-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær often covered for training sessions and games he missed after failing to turn up to the team hotel for “unexplained absences”.

Another source who watched him play aged just 16 also went on to reveal that Bradford-born academy product “wasn’t shy about telling someone they were s***”, apparently even calling out Cristiano Ronaldo as “dead [finished]” when he was still at Real Madrid.

Greenwood played over 100 senior games for United and was widely considered one of the brightest young prospects in England, let alone the club, but the career trajectory he looked to be on is widely different from the problematic position he finds himself in now, regardless of any offers from abroad.

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Featured Image — Manchester United (Twitter)

News

Led By Donkeys fool MPs into revealing ridiculous £10,000 daily rate in fake job interviews

Danny Jones Danny Jones Matt Hancock fake job interviews Led By Donkeys trick MPs

British political campaign group, Led By Donkeys, have once again taken aim at the Conservative government, managing to fool multiple MPs by putting them through fake job interviews.

The campaigners hatched the plan to see just how easy it is to ‘hire an MP’, with Tory politicians having been criticised for earning an additional £15.2 million in added income from ‘second jobs’ since 2019 alone — that’s on top of their already £80k-a-year salaries, of course.

So, after setting up a fake consultancy firm based out of Seoul, South Korea called Hanseong Consulting and inviting along a number of MPs, many of whom either previously held or currently sit in senior party positions, they began holding Zoom interviews with the various candidates to see if they’d be interested.

More importantly, however, the crucial question was “how much would they want to be paid?”. The likes of former Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng had very simple but nevertheless astounding answers:

As you can see in the trailer for the full mini-documentary, both the former health secretary and the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer quoted their day rate as up to £10,000.

In fact, Hancock broke down his figures even further, insisting that an hourly rate would equate to “around £1,500”. Wonder how that sizes up to the fee he was paid to be on I’m A Celeb? (yes, that wasn’t a fever dream, it really happened). We’ll let you do the nauseating maths on that one.

Other Tories who were duped into putting themselves forward for the made-up job included Gavin Williamson, Stephen Hammond and the Chairman of the party’s 1922 Committee (a private members group known to influencers backbenchers), Sir Graham Brady.

Well, they were the only ‘candidates’ to have issued statements after the fact trying to play down the story, anyway. The campaigners approached 20 different MPs under the guise of the fabricated company, with other individuals dropping out in more preliminary stages.

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After having asked for £60k a year on top of his £48k annual salary as the representative for Manc constituency Altrincham and Sale West, this would have been Brady’s fourth job besides his two marketing and comms advisory roles, but assured he would always act “within the Code of Conduct”.

Hammond had more to say on the matter, responding that “scamming is an unpleasant activity undertaken with malicious intent”, while Hancock’s office responded by labelling it a “failed attempt at entrapment” and insisted he is free to look at “exploratory options” as he is set to stand down as an MP.

Led By Donkeys are now in the process of gradually releasing each one of the fake job interviews in full on their YouTube channel.

You can watch Kwasi Kwarteng’s down below:

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Featured Image — Led By Donkeys

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