In light of Marissa Mayer’s decision to eliminate telecommuting/work from home options at Yahoo, I felt this was a good time to touch on why this works for some companies and not so well for others. The reality is that it depends more on the employees than the company or the nature of their business. Whether you agree with the decision or don’t, she evaluated each work from home employee’s production versus the employee’s that were on-site at Yahoo. The numbers spoke for themselves with on-site employees averaging as much as 20%-25% more production. The evaluation raises many questions and angered many employees of Yahoo, some of which are expected to leave Yahoo for new roles with companies that continue to embrace the work from home mentality.
Is this a decision that other organizations will make or be forced to make? Technology has allowed the workforce to become much more connected to work regardless, of whether they’re actually in their office or not. This is a good thing when the freedom to do so isn’t abused and people are held accountable. As far as Marissa’s decision, this was a business decision that was based of numbers that were tracked for several months. She addresses this by stating this will provide a much more collaborative environment where speed and quality are the focus. The message that went to the Yahoo employees:
"To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices," Jackie Reses, Yahoo's human resources chief, wrote in the memo sent out Friday. "Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo, and that starts with physically being together."
Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times “Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer causes uproar over telecommuting ban”
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/26/business/la-fi-yahoo-telecommuting-20130226
Personally, I completely understand this decision. Can I do my job from home? Sure. Would it be nice to roll out of bed and be at work in 2 minutes? Absolutely. Would it be nice to not have to deal with a morning and evening commute? Sure. On the flipside, it takes collaborative effort for the majority of companies to push towards success. Would I be as effective from home on an everyday basis? No. In my case, there are way too many distractions. Yahoo has been losing ground to their competition for several years because of distractions! Marissa Mayer is gradually making headway in turning Yahoo back into a major player. I respect her for making a decision that she knew wouldn’t be popular and would ultimately cause some Yahoo employees to leave the company. I can't help but feel this is exactly what she planned.