Man United staff ‘are ordered to return to the office permanently from June 1’ as Sir Jim Ratcliffe axes work from home after telling workers to come back ‘or seek alternative employment’

Manchester United staff have reportedly been told to work from the office full-time from June 1 as Sir Jim Ratcliffe implemented a massive cultural overhaul.

The club’s part owner warned employees last week that the flexible working arrangements had to end, telling them to go elsewhere if they didn’t like it.

He argued that he had seen reduced productivity at INEOS with similar home working allowances.

Staff are expected to work all their hours from the club’s base in London or Manchester from next month the Athletics.

The billionaire’s aim is to transform an ailing club from top to bottom and stripping away a privilege that many have taken advantage of since the Covid-19 pandemic is part of that vision.

The club has a flexible working from home policy, but Ratcliffe has told employees to ‘find alternative work’ if they don’t want to come in

‘The key to achieving this goal [of a high-performance environment] is connection and collaboration. Everyone comes together as a collective to share skills, knowledge and ideas, building on the best of what we already do and looking at where we need to change and innovate,” said an internal email sent to staff and not by Ratcliffe itself is signed.

‘We believe that this connection and collaboration is best achieved when everyone works close to each other. Although hybrid working has some advantages, it cannot replace the value of people being together physically.

‘With this in mind, we will be asking all colleagues who are currently on a hybrid working arrangement to return to the office permanently.’

Ratcliffe is said to have told the workers: ‘If you don’t like it, please find other work.’

According to the Athletic, there are not enough desks for everyone in the London and Manchester offices as they have been adapted for working from home.

Mail Sport understands that there is limited space at the club’s Old Trafford stadium, where some staff work, as well as limited space at their training ground in Carrington, which is why many have started working from home.

But Ratcliffe is said to be concerned about the productivity of his staff after citing a statistic showing email traffic fell by 20 percent while working remotely.

A report in the Guardian claims there was a ‘stunned’ reaction among staff after initially hearing about the plans to abolish working from home arrangements.

The British billionaire has issued the law in recent weeks after speaking out about the club’s ‘disgraceful’ sloppiness around their training ground in Carrington.

Ratcliffe was unimpressed during his visit to the complex and called for higher standards

They view Ratcliffe’s explanation for changing their work setup as ‘short-sighted’ and do not know how all the staff will be accommodated with the limited space.

Ratcliffe, 71, continues to lay down the law at Old Trafford after speaking out about the ‘disgraceful’ state of the club’s IT department and issuing a warning about ‘sloppiness’ during a visit to Carrington.

‘I had a good two-day visit to both Carrington and Old Trafford this week. As always I was made to feel very welcome. Thank you,” began Ratcliffe’s note, which was sent to all staff and seen by Mail Sport.

‘I had a good tour of some of the facilities. I am afraid that in many places I was struck by a high degree of sloppiness. Particularly the IT department which was quite frankly a disgrace and the U18 and U21 changing rooms were not much better.

‘These standards would not be close to what we would expect at INEOS and we are a chemical company. Manchester United is a top sports organization.

“It’s a small thing in many ways, but unless an organization has standards and discipline, it won’t succeed.”

He continued, “I would be grateful in the future if we adopted proper housekeeping standards everywhere.

‘It reflects poorly on the club when we have visitors, parents of young players, new players and the media and they see that we don’t care enough to keep things in order.’

Omar Berrada (left) will start as CEO on July 13, while Jason Wilcox (right) will join the club as technical director

Ratcliffe, who started working at the club last year after buying a £1.25 billion stake in the club, has overhauled United’s off-field executive team with the help of Ineos chief Sir Dave Brailsford.

Omar Berrada will start as CEO this summer, replacing Richard Arnold, while John Murtough has also left as director of football with Dan Ashworth as his replacement. Jason Wilcox has joined as technical director.

Mail Sport has approached Manchester United for comment.