Starbucks tells corporate staff in US and Canada to work in office at least four days a week

Starbucks has ordered its corporate staff to work from the office at least four days a week from late September and is offering cash payments to those who choose to quit instead.Brian Niccol, the chief executive of the Seattle-headquartered coffee chain, said many of its employees would be required to work in the office for a minimum of four days a week, up from three, from Monday to Thursday.The edict will apply to its Seattle and Toronto support centres and its regional offices in North America. The change does not apply to the UK, where Starbucks has its head office in Chiswick, west London.“We do our best work when we’re together,” Niccol said in a message to employees, referred to as “partners”, on the company’s website about “re-establishing an in-office culture”

FTSE 100 breaks 9,000-point barrier to reach new high

Britain’s blue-chip stock index has risen through the 9,000-point mark to touch a new high.The FTSE 100 share index hit 9,016.98 points in early trading on Tuesday, taking its gains during 2025 to more than 10%.Analysts said the London stock market had benefited from a range of factors this year, including a move by some investors to diversify away from US shares because of concerns about Donald Trump’s economic policies.The US president’s trade war has also helped UK stocks, as Britain is one of the few countries to have reached a trade deal guaranteeing lower tariffs

Thousands of vehicles sit idle at EU port as Trump’s tariffs leave their mark

The Port of Antwerp-Bruges has been turned into a giant car park with thousands of cars, vans, trucks and tractors bound for the US sitting idle as manufacturers try to avert the worst of Donald Trump’s tariffs.Figures released by the port show a 15.9% drop in the transport of new passenger cars and vans to the US in the first six months of 2025 compared with the same period last year, with a sharp decline emerging in May – one month after the US president announced his “liberation day” tariffs.Exports of trucks and what they call “high and heavy equipment” is down by almost a third at 31.5%

Fear of being ordered back to office affecting UK staff wellbeing, poll finds

A fear of being ordered back to the office is having an impact on workers’ wellbeing, according to a poll, after a string of companies issued return-to-office mandates.More than a third (38%) of workers surveyed said recent news stories about companies hardening their stance on office attendance had negatively affected their wellbeing, highlighting the tug-of-war between employers and their employees.More than four in five (84%) employees who work in a hybrid way – splitting their time between the office and a remote location, such as home – said it had a positive effect on their overall wellbeing, including their mental, physical, social and financial wellbeing.More women (87%) than men (80%) said they believed hybrid working had improved their wellbeing in the survey of 3,600 UK employers and employees across a range of industries in the public and private sectors between late April and early May by the recruitment company Hays.The main worry about returning to the office more frequently was cost, potentially additional commuting expenses, as almost six in 10 (59%) of those polled said worries about their finances would affect their willingness to spend more time in the office

To hoard or not to hoard? UK consumers on the pros and cons of cash

It was while walking to his local Co-op that Ty, a 27-year-old student in Brighton, noticed a strangely long queue for the cashpoint.In the shop, a staff member told Ty the payment systems were down after a cyber-attack. It was cash only. But Ty didn’t need to join the queue. Instead, he felt vindicated

Reeves to say cuts to City red tape will bring trickle-down benefits to households

Rachel Reeves will claim that cutting red tape for City firms will have trickle-down benefits for households across Britain, as she tries to drum up support for a new financial services strategy.A raft of regulatory reforms are due to be announced by the chancellor on Tuesday, in what the Treasury says will be the “biggest financial regulation reforms in a decade”. It will come before her Mansion House address to City bosses during a dinner at Guildhall in London on Tuesday evening.Under the “Leeds reforms” – which Reeves will announce during a “summit” with top City executives in West Yorkshire – the chancellor will declare that paring down burdensome regulation is key to unleashing UK growth and ultimately ensuring that households are better off.“I have placed financial services at the heart of the government’s growth mission – recognising that Britain cannot succeed and meet its growth ambitions without a financial services sector that is fighting fit and thriving,” Reeves will say