‘Once you legislate, people will rebel’: Why a vibes-based WFH policy is working for Vitality
The debate-stirring issue of working from home (WFH) has never been far from the headlines so far in 2025.
The likes of FTSE 100 giant WPP, Lord Alan Sugar and London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan have all made waves with where they stand on the topic.
Now Neville Koopowitz, the chief executive of health and life insurance giant Vitality, has revealed why his company’s hybrid policy makes him “relaxed” and is “working exceptionally well”.
Speaking as part of the latest episode of Morning Wire’s Boardroom Uncovered interview series, the South African has revealed the role data has played on crafting the firm’s WFH policy and how employees feeling “the vibes” in the office has actually made staff come in more.
However, Koopowitz added that he does think that young people should be present in the office more to help develop their professional development early in their career.
The Boardroom Uncovered episode with Vitality’s CEO is due to be published next week.
All previous episodes can be viewed here.
The interview also comes as Vitality announced plans to offer discounted weight loss treatments in a UK first.
The group, which is UK’s third-largest health insurer behind Bupa and Axa, is to offer discounts of up to 20 per cent for medications such as Wegovy and Mounjaro to its 1.9 million members.
The offer is to be based on their body mass index (BMI) and weight-related health conditions, Vitality said.
‘It’s not about the hours that you actually spend in the office’
Speaking to Boardroom Uncovered, Koopowitz said: “We’ve adopted a hybrid working model that has actually turned out to be brilliant for us as an organisation – with two days compulsory in the office.
“Interestingly enough, the attendance in those two days is about 97, 98 per cent.
“People actually understand the reason why they’ve got to come into the office.
“We’ve been very deliberate about the way that we actually have structured it.
“We’ve got a lot of mechanisms and tools that can actually measure productivity.
“That was one of the positive things that came out of Covid is we were forced in a very short space of time to make sure that the technology was in place and it improved over the period of time.
“So from our perspective, I think it’s working exceptionally well, especially with young families, people with young kids, the ability for them to actually have the ability to do things beyond work and not compromise on their work, I think is very important.
“It’s not about the hours that you actually spend in the office. It’s the output of the work. And I think a lot also depends on the culture of the organisation.
“I do, however, worry that young people coming in from a career perspective need to actually engage more in a face to face environment. And we are actually starting to see that.
“So whilst we’ve got the two days, there’s some instances where people are coming in five days.
“People actually come in and they feel the vibe and that’s important for us because there is nothing better than collaboration.”
“I probably wouldn’t be that relaxed if we hadn’t seen the results but we’re very much data driven in everything that we do. So we want to measure sentiment, we want to measure productivity.
“My sense is that once you legislate, people will maybe rebel a bit.”
WPP, Alan Sugar and Sadiq Khan on WFH
The comments come after FTSE 100 advertising giant WPP hit the headlines towards the start of the year when it ordered its staff to come into the office four days a week.
The London-listed media behemoth, which owns the likes of Ogilvy, Burson and GroupM, told staff across the group’s dozens of markets that they will have to attend the office at least four days a week from April onwards.
The move included a mandate all staff to attend the office for at least two Fridays a month.
The WFH move caused an uproar among staff, with a petition calling for a reversal of the policy gathering tens of thousands of signatures.
Lord Alan Sugar also waded into the WFH debate by telling the BBC that workers have “got to get their bums back into the office”.
Speaking ahead of the launch of the latest series of The Apprentice, the businessman-turned-TV personality said a lot of young people “just want to sit at home”.
Lord Sugar, who owns office space in central London, added: “I’m a great advocate of getting them back to work, because the only way an apprentice is going to learn is from his colleagues.”
In November 2024, Morning Wire reported that Lord Sugar’s property empire had returned to the black during its latest financial year after recovering from a huge loss.
Amshold, the company which Lord Sugar holds his property investments, achieved a pre-tax profit of £932,000 for the 12 months to 30 June, 2024.
The latest figure, revealed in documents filed with Companies House, came after the firm fell to a pre-tax loss of £29.1m in its prior 12 months.
The return to profit came despite the group’s turnover falling from £11.4m to £8.7m in the year.
Sir Sadiq Khan also recently raised the alarm on WFH, saying London “cannot afford” to be a city where “the centre has been hollowed out”.
The London Mayor urged employers to consider the post-lockdown effect on commuters across the capital, as first reported by the BBC.
Khan added unease regarding the amount of young graduates entering their first jobs in the wake of the pandemic.
He told the event, hosted by consultancy firm Project Leaders, young people may struggle to form connections with colleagues or miss out on certain skills due to the lack of office work.