Paul Smith Exec Chair: Working From Home Doesn't Work

The executive chair of Paul Smith says working from home “just doesn’t work” for young people and has urged the government to stay out of decisions over where employees work.

Ewan Venters argues that younger workers risk missing the informal learning and mentoring that comes from being around more experienced colleagues. He traces his own career back to joining Sainsbury’s at sixteen and learning from senior business figures by working alongside them, describing the experience as his “university education”.

Venters says he is a “huge fan” of flexibility, but believes individual businesses rather than government should decide how it works. “Let business figure out the flexibility,” he says. “Please, let’s not have government intervention on whether you can work from home or not.”

He says the government’s approach to employment rights will be one of the things he watches most closely.

Venters took over as executive chair of Paul Smith after joining the board to review a business that has recorded losses for six consecutive years. He says previous management failed to respond quickly enough to structural changes in fashion retail as the wholesale market consolidated. “Quite frankly, they did take the eye off the ball,”.

The changing retail landscape also leads Venters into a critique of pre-pack administrations. Paul Smith is among the creditors affected by the restructuring of Harvey Nichols, and Venters describes the use of pre-packs as “dubious in terms of ethics and way business gets done”. He says suppliers could recover only a fraction of what they are owed and questions the impact on smaller brands.

We asked Frasers Group, who bought Harvey Nichols out of administration, for a response, but they have not replied at the moment.

Internationally, Venters points to the US as one of Paul Smith’s biggest opportunities. He says the brand is growing four to five times faster there than anywhere else in the world and is preparing to open on Madison Avenue.

He also calls for the return of tax-free shopping for international visitors to Britain, arguing that its removal has damaged growth.

Presenter: Sean Farrington

Producer: Olie D'Albertanson

Editor: Henry Jones

00:00 Will and Sean intro the pod

03:00 Ewan joins the pod - explains why he's at Paul Smith

05:27 Losses and what went wrong at Paul Smith

07:24 Recovery plan.

10:34 Jobs, productivity and AI

16:27 Harvey Nichols and pre-pack administrations

21:26 America Growth Strategy

23:42 WFH and back to the office

29:16 UK Budget and Tax-Free shopping