Yahoo Bans All Work From Home. A Modern Move?
In a company memo leaked to the press last Friday, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer bans all work from home. In an effort to increase productivity and corporate culture, Yahoo believes this is the way of their future. Puke.
As you have all probably read or heard elsewhere, this has caused a huge uproar. Even Sir Richard Branson chimed in with 2 tweets:
“Perplexed by Yahoo! stopping remote working. Give people the freedom of where to work & they will excel.”
&
“Work isn’t 9-5 anymore, the world is connected. Remote working is more effective than ever.”
I agree with Branson. Hey, everyone needs to do what’s best for their business but this sets a pretty big example and we’ve come so far in terms of celebrating different ways of getting the job done. Not only moms and dads but all working people with more flexibility are afforded a better work/life balance that in most cases leads to more productivity. As long as we are getting the job done, why does it need to be between 9am and 5pm?
A straight ban says a lot especially coming from the woman who cut her own maternity leave short taking only two weeks. Ay yi yi. Hey, that’s how she rolls, I get it. It’s just that most of us don’t and we don’t want to. Which is not to say that we’re not incredibly hard working.
So, is Ms. Mayer sending us back in time? We’ve been there before. We all saw how that worked out for Diane Keaton in Baby Boom. She clearly made the better choice with the veterinarian and the baby food business- go J.C.! To each his own and that’s the point. We should celebrate individuality, not try to press people together and corporately homogenize them. We’re so past that. Aren’t we? What do you think?
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I agree completely, Kelly. This is a step back – way back; not forward. In fact, well before the successful leap into
working from home, someone very dear to me started doing this in 1977. His employees were allowed latitude as to when to work, make their own hours. You see, he trusted them to get the job done and no surprise – they did. Added to that was loyalty to him
and the company. It was visionary at the time – but true Renaissance Man that he was – it was the way of the future.
Very disappointed in Ms Mayer. Perhaps she believes it will increase productivity in Yahoo, perhaps the company is
struggling; I certainly am not privy to that info. All I know for sure is that I wouldn’t want to work for Yahoo now, not
as a young Mom.