British tycoon Richard Branson. Abdelhek Senna / AFP
British tycoon Richard Branson. Abdelhek Senna / AFP

Leave it out, Richard



National Editorial

Sir Richard Branson seems determined to portray himself as the world’s best boss. The man behind the Virgin brand, which adorns everything from mobile phones to spaceships, has declared that he’s tearing up the time book at his US and UK headquarters and allowing “all salaried staff to take off whenever they want for as long as they want”.

The idea, borrowed from the video-streaming giant Netflix, recognises that in an age of constant connectivity, hot-desking and working from home, the old model of tracking when someone was “at work” or on holiday no longer applies. And, on the surface it makes good sense.

The move is in line with initiatives by the likes of Google, which offers its employees massages, a bowling alley, “nap pods” and free food – all of them actually designed to make people happy to work beyond their regular hours rather than to allow them to slack off. Virgin staff will still be required to meet productivity targets, which means any extra holidays will probably come at a price of longer and harder work days.

In any case, the system is simply not practical at many workplaces where deadlines must be met – including a lot of Sir Richard’s own businesses. Imagine if the crew of a Virgin Atlantic service decided that, instead of flying to New York, they were all going to take a spontaneous “duvet day”.

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Know your Camel lingo

The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home

Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless

Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers

Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s

Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival

Apple product price list

iPad Pro

11" - $799 (64GB)
12.9" - $999 (64GB)

MacBook Air 

$1,199

Mac Mini

$799

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