Yahoo and the Pros and Cons of Working from Home
Causing a storm of controversy with her decision, Yahoo’s new CEO Marissa Mayer has just decided that all telecommuting workers must return to the office by June 1, 2013 (causing an uproar among Yahoo staff). While workers have been quick to cite the benefits of working from home, Mayer believes this is the right course to turn things around at the company, and she has strong support from Wall Street.According to a recently leaked internal memo that appeared in the“Huffington Post,”and was generated by Yahoo’s Human Resources (HR) Department, “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. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home.”Why the action is so controversialThis unusual measure has caused even more controversy as a discussion about the pros and cons of telecommuting moves into the broader workforce. In countless forums across the country (and, in some cases, around the globe), people have been speaking out.Ironically, Silicon Valley gave birth to the idea of telecommuting, and technology increasingly pushes work onto every newly created technological device. It is now easier than ever to work remotely, and the decision has allowed more flexibility into workers’ lives.This individual company decision speaks loudly about company needs vs. workers’ needs. It also has caused a backlash among new mothers who cry “foul” over Mayer’s building a nursery next to her office (albeit at her own expense) who don’t have the same option.Pros and cons of telecommutingIronically on the very day that the Yahoo edict was handed down, astudy came out of Stanfordon call center workers. It found that those working from home had a 13 percent higher performance level than office workers. It also found that those working from home had greater job satisfaction and stayed with their jobs longer.British EntrepreneurRichard Bransonalso criticized Mayer for being out of step with her industry. Noted Branson, “This seems a backwards step in an age when remote working is easier and more effective than ever.”UCLA ProfessorDavid Lewinnoted that banning telecommuting is also a risky step for Mayer as it could affect employee morale and make Yahoo less competitive in recruiting new personnel.Others have suggested that the ban may have a different purpose altogether, offering Yahoo the opportunity to weed out unsatisfactory or underperforming workers without having to resort to layoffs per se.Many on Wall Street support Mayer’s decision, believing it is just the first step in turning the company around and gaining better value for shareholders. Among her outspoken defenders isDonald Trump,who tweeted that she was right “to expect Yahoo employees to come to the workplace.”Stats and trendsSurprisingly, the stats in this case favor Trump’s claim. Despite the progress of the American workplace (which lags behind the rest of the industrialized world, according toJennifer Glassof the Population Research Center at the University of Texas-Austin), less than 3 percent of American employees work from home.No matter the endless commutes, the demands of caring for young children or elderly relatives, or congested roadways, the majority of workers still check into the office daily. However, despite the low percentage of telecommuters, the trends indicate that the number of telecommuters is increasing (by some 66 percent between 2005 to 2010, for example).And, despite the technological wave cascading from Silicon Valley, most of those workers still turn up every day as well. Google is just one example. When the question of how many people telecommute at Google, theanswer given by their CFOis clear: “As few as possible.” Looks like Mayer is on trend, after all.
