Big business is the new nanny-state

FORGET the nanny state, it’s woke companies we should be worrying about. First they took our plastic bags, now they’re coming for our steak, writes James Morrow.

NEWS flash for anyone who thinks it’s their own damn business how they live their life: it’s not the big government nanny state you have to worry about anymore.

No, the real threat to your life unannoyed by those improving sorts who would save you — and the planet — from your own stupid, selfish self now lurks in the corporate world’s HR departments and C-suites.

This week global office-sharing giant WeWork announced it would no longer allow its 6000 employees around the globe to expense meals containing meat or poultry, nor would the stuff be served at any company event or function going forward.

“Research indicates that avoiding meat is one of the biggest things an individual can do to reduce their environmental impact,” the founder of the US$20 billion company told employees in an email explaining the policy.

Well, where would we be without “research”? Of course, if they really wanted to save the planet, they wouldn’t have travel expenses at all.

After all, “research” is also pretty damning when it comes to the carbon emissions of flying around the world. Though that never seems to stop the climate change barons who converge every few years by their thousands to sip umbrella drinks and congratulate each other when perfectly serviceable video conferencing technology allows them to do much the same thing.

And you have to wonder where WeWork’s climate commissars might go next.

As part of their environmental approach, WeWork will no longer allow its employees to expense meals containing meat or poultry. (Pic: iStock)

Will they impose a China-style one child policy on employees and cut off maternity leave for second sprogs, given that “research” shows that every new child brought into the world — particularly in developed nations like Australia or the USA — is a carbon-belching, plastic-consuming planetary disaster in the making?

As for “bring your pets to work day”, well, best not think too hard about that given the “research” on the planetary impact of dog food.

But while it is easy to pity the sad, wan-faced employees of global office-sharing giant WeWork, they are hardly alone.

Earlier this month it was reported that corporate giants including NAB, Bupa, and KPMG were moving to phase out their vending machines and offering what was reported as “short modules” on “healthy lifestyles” and “corporate wellness programs” to nudge their staff into living better (and presumably taking fewer sick days).

Never mind this columnist’s own survey (sample size: one) proving that nothing boosts productivity like a little sack of Doritos. What’s telling about this is that big companies are doing what public health advocates have been lobbying big government to do for years, without anywhere near as much success.

And the trend lines all point in one direction.

The trend of no longer allowing employees to eat meat on the company dollar follows in the footsteps of companies banning plastic bags. (Pic: Peter Rae/AAP)

After all what was the whole drama in aisle eight over plastic bags but just another big company — or pair of companies — trying to save the planet and their bottom line at the expense of their customers’ convenience?

(Here’s a tip: Just grab extra bags from the rolls in the produce aisles and schlep everything home that way. Double bagging is highly recommended for canned goods.)

None of this is to say that politicians and bureaucrats will ever stop trying to tell us how to live our lives — for our own good, of course.

But as with so much else, our betters have figured out the private sector is both far more efficient and far more annoying when it comes to nannying and nudging us to be our best selves.

Which is a bit of a worry.

After all, we can always vote out a government that tightens the screws too much on our liberty in favour of a more freedom-minded mob. But when one has to work and earn and get food on the table, who’s going to tell the boss to butt out?

James Morrow is opinion editor of The Daily Telegraph.

@pwafork

Originally published as Big business is the new nanny-state