Wednesday newspaper round-up: Stellantis, ITV, Philip Morris

Employers who force staff to return to the office five days a week have been called the “dinosaurs of our age” by one of the world’s leading experts who coined the term “presenteeism”. Sir Cary Cooper, a professor of organisational psychology and health at the University of Manchester’s Alliance Manchester Business School, said employers imposing strict requirements on staff to be in the office risked driving away talented workers, damaging the wellbeing of employees and undermining their financial performance. – Guardian

One of America’s biggest carmakers, Stellantis, could face fresh strikes after the United Auto Workers (UAW) announced plans for members to vote on authorizing a walkout. The UAW president Shawn Fain accused executives at the automotive giant of being “out of control” on Tuesday evening. “The company wants you to be scared,” he told his union’s members, “but we are 100% within our rights and within our power to take strike action if necessary.” – Guardian

Britain’s worklessness crisis is costing taxpayers £16bn a year through lost tax revenue and an inflated benefits bill, top economists have warned. The Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and the Commission on the Future of Employment Support warned that the country’s workforce was shrinking at the fastest rate since the 1980s, leading to a shortfall in employment-related taxes. At the same time, the number of people claiming benefits because of ill-health has also spiked, leading to a rapid rise in the cost of benefits, while a growing number has never worked. – Telegraph

The boss of ITV has hit out at plans to ban junk food adverts on TV before 9pm, warning it could force the broadcaster to make programming cuts. Dame Carolyn McCall said the company had been fighting the ban “for some time” and warned it would lead to millions of pounds in lost revenues. Speaking at the Royal Television Society convention in London on Tuesday, she said: “We’ve done loads of research to say this is not going to make a dent in childhood obesity. But it is a political thing and so we’re going to have to mitigate it in any way we can. – Telegraph

Philip Morris International has offloaded Vectura for just £150 million, three years after its contentious £1 billion acquisition of the respiratory drugs company triggered a backlash from the public health sector. The maker of Marlboro cigarettes has sold the Chippenham-based company to Molex, a US company that owns the contract development and manufacturing organisation Phillips Medisize, in a setback for its transformation away from tobacco. – The Times