Remote working withdrawn at...

[BigNick]

... Yahoo!. Wow.

Regardless of the merits of the idea (I am personally a little skeptical about some of the hype surrounding the claimed benefits of working from home), the memo from HR on behalf of the CEO is a classic piece of who-are-you-trying-to-kid "upbeatness". It could have appeared word-for-word in the wonderful "Who Moved My BlackBerry™?".

 

[hsv_climber]

Here is a follow up from Vooza:

http://vooza.com/handcuffs/

 

[ls99]

That is one way to reduce the current workforce.

 

[easysurfer]

There's been pretty much coverage about the CEO's decision at Yahoo. From what I hear, she's pretty much a my way or the highway type of CEO.

I see both sides of the equation. Thinking back to my days of w*rking, I do think collaboration was much better when folks met face-to-face.

Yet at the same time. A flat out, no more telecommuting is pretty harsh. I remember many days on pager (remember those things?) duty, when the system went down and I'd get a call. The task of logging into work from home surely was a not better than having to travel into the office and look at the problem, especially on a crappy day like a snowy winter one.

Memories...

 

[SumDay]

I have w*rked from home for the past 9 years. I love it. I am an introvert, and I found the constant small talk and chit chat at the office to be exhausting, not to mention the politics. And, I was old enough to be everyone's mother at my office, so as my friends left I was blessed to get this j*b.

I have no interruptions, no one chats me up when I go to the kitchen for another cup of tea, and I know I am far more productive. I don't have the stress of the commute in bad weather, and the older I get, the more that means to me.

When I first took this j*b I heard third-hand comments that people were always shocked that I answered my phone on the first ring. People just assume you're goofing off if you're not being watched. Believe me, what I do (if I quit doing it) would be quickly noticed if I were indeed goofing off. I don't have time for it.

I think it's a great perq to offer employees at little to no cost to the employer. It's sad Yahoo's CEO is so short sighted. I wish them all luck in finding something better. Sounds like there will be lots of hard feelings over this one. I know I'd be furious if I had to give this up. And if I did, they'd be doing good to get a full 40 out of me, instead of the 50+ they get now.

 

[RunningBum]

Yet at the same time. A flat out, no more telecommuting is pretty harsh. I remember many days on pager (remember those things?) duty, when the system went down and I'd get a call. The task of logging into work from home surely was a not better than having to travel into the office and look at the problem, especially on a crappy day like a snowy winter one.

From what I read elsewhere, I didn't get the impression that after hours work had to be done at the office, but they just wanted everyone in during base work hours for collaboration.

I'd have quit had my company mandated this. I telecommuted for years and generally got more done without the cubicle distractions, but I also had a job that was mostly independent and ideal for telecommuting. When they moved that job to India and wanted me to work on a new project, I knew that telecommuting wouldn't work for me so I did leave, even though they were going to let me try.

I think it's a poor policy to do across the board like this, with no flexibility. They should trust managers to decide whether individual members of their staff have assignments and ability to work from home.

 

[M Paquette]

It's a stealth layoff. A fair chunk of their telecommuters live so far from the Yahoo campus that they would be looking at 3-4 hours of car time daily. By getting people to self-layoff Yahoo avoids much expense and paperwork. Oh, and Google and Facebook are well aware of the layoff, and are recruiting.

 

[REWahoo]

It's a stealth layoff.

That was my first thought when I saw the announcement. A chunk of those folks will leave rather than make the daily trip to the office.

 

[UserRequested]

That is one way to reduce the current workforce.

Most public servants could work from home and you would see no drop in productivity

 

[REWahoo]

Most public servants could work from home and you would see no drop in productivity

You do understand there are hundreds of public servants who participate on this forum, right?

 

[UserRequested]

You do understand there are hundreds of public servants who participate on this forum, right?

I meant it in the nicest possible way.

 

[steelyman]

I worked from home and ended up creating something that literally brought in millions of dollars to us (a big deal). But eventually it occurred to me that if you work from home, you're always at work!

 

[easysurfer]

When I used to w*rk from home, the only way I'd not get distracted was to set up an area will all my w*rk stuff in a corner dedicated for w*rk. Otherwise, I'd get side tracked.

The best part was when the w*rk hours were up and my "commute" involved walking from that w*rk area to my living room

 

[Lakewood90712]

That is one way to reduce the current workforce.

Ya, and it works too.

Anyone they really want to keep will be at least partially exempted when the call to HR to "Start my termination papers" happens. Kind of sticky stuff to explain to those not exempted from the policy , but it always happens this way.

 

[obgyn65]

I have rarely worked from home, perhaps 4 hours a month max, for reviewing papers or charting online. I understand why some companies want to reduce telecommuting.

 

[Ronstar]

I have worked from home for the last 10 years. Sometimes 1 day a week. Sometimes 5 when I really need to get something done. Today's technology makes it easy. But I see the CEO's position - she wants to layoff workers and this is a way to do it for free. But good luck on hiring top talent at Yahoo in the future.

 

[jollystomper]

I am fortunate to have a choice to work from home when I want and do so 2-3 times a week. I would feel very uncomfortable working at home full time. There is still something to be said for meeting and seeing people face-to-face, and my most successful projects have been ones where there was a good amount of face time among the participants.

So I can see her point to a degree... however, to make it mandatory will impact morale, and I agree with those who say it is a subtle way to get folks to leave without having to lay them off. Working at home is a good "benefit" when the labor market is tight, but sadly in these times companies are rescinding this because the available labor pool (particularly when one looks at it from a global perspective) is large.

My megacorp has done this at certain locations. They have moved a function to a less costlier state and told the employees that to keep their job they must move (at their own expense) as they will not be allowed to work remotely.

 

[Walt34]

Most public servants could work from home and you would see no drop in productivity

It depends on what they do. I now work at a large computer center and most of the core employees do their jobs at a keyboard. Does it really matter how long the wire from the keyboard to the computer is? I think not.

So a lot of them work from home at least a few days a week.

 

[ziggy29]

This is (as other said) really a way to slash the workforce without severance packages and unemployment compensation. I also have little doubt that the company will find a way to carve out exceptions for truly exceptional and/or critical personnel they really don't want to lose.

In reality telecommuting can work really well or really badly, depending on the type of work you do and the management in place. The management needs to not only be supportive of the process, but also the ability to define the expectations of home office employees *and* the means to measure their effectiveness.

I've worked at home full time since 2009. My employer has mostly embraced it as a way to reduce facilities costs and allow us to be more flexible in our working hours so we can be more responsive to the needs of coworkers all over the globe.

 

[MichaelB]

This is (as other said) really a way to slash the workforce without severance packages and unemployment compensation. I also have little doubt that the company will find a way to carve out exceptions for truly exceptional and/or critical personnel they really don't want to lose.

This is probably the case, and if so, it is sad.

From this morning's FT Bosses are reining in staff because they can - FT.com

The lesson to draw from Ms Mayer’s whip-cracking – in Silicon Valley, of all places – is that this is an age of harder work. From intense teamwork at the top to monitoring and surveillance at the bottom, managers are squeezing more from employees than they previously would have dared.

./.

That has undermined employees’ bargaining power, enabling managers to impose greater demands on their shrinking workforces. “For several years, managers have been able to ask workers to do two jobs without any of them quitting,” says Peter Cappelli, a management professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

 

[nphx]

In my software related biz I have remote contractors US or international who serve specialized or at will services for tasks. These remote resources have an overhead of task management and are shielded from urgent or nuisance tasks because of the level of effort to provide context and effectively engage them. They may get shielded from nuisance tasks – but those tasks still need to be done. That would be the “speed” Yahoo referred to. Also it becomes my (and other in office staff) burden to prepare work packages so that the “quality” can be delivered. There are a lot of moving parts and in dissecting how some detail was missed the offsite individual can ultimately make a case that some detail was not provided (very frustrating). From where I sit the benefit seems to be for the remote resource – so much so for that it should be a 40% haircut on salary (it’s a benefit of tangible value and an expense for the employer). I am hiring now and get many applications for resources that wish to work from home or do a 3 or 4 day in office.

 

[Lisa99]

I've worked from home full-time since 2005. My team is all over the world so there no benefit sitting in an office talking to them over the phone vs. being in my home office on the phone.

Allowing telecommuting is at the discretion of the individual manager and I do have one employee that I require to come into the office to work. However, there has been some noise from senior mgmt that they want people to start working in regional 'hubs'. If this happens I'll lose 90% of my team since most are more than 100 miles from the nearest 'hub'.

 

[ziggy29]

This is probably the case, and if so, it is sad.

From this morning's FT Bosses are reining in staff because they can - FT.com

I've been beating this drum for a while now. Employers are cracking the whips and imposing more and more on their employees because they *can* and because most workers have almost zero leverage in this economy.

The pendulum was in the opposite direction in Silicon Valley in the late 1990s, and if it ever swings that way again, I'd expect the employers who have exploited the current job market to their advantage will find a brain drain occurring to them, really quickly (at least I hope so). And those employers who didn't increasingly abuse their workforce just because they could will (I hope) reap the benefits of goodwill and at least a little bit of loyalty.

 

[HighRoller]

I am fortunate to have a choice to work from home when I want and do so 2-3 times a week. I would feel very uncomfortable working at home full time. There is still something to be said for meeting and seeing people face-to-face, and my most successful projects have been ones where there was a good amount of face time among the participants.

Same here. During the last few years of my employment, I had the option to work at home and/or the office. I'd typically go into the office one or two days a week since I found some face to face interaction was valuable "in my job". There's no doubt in my mind that the success of working from home depends a lot on the type of job and the type of person. In my case, I don't think my productivity suffered at all and it did encourage me to stay around for a few more years. It was a win/win for me and the company.

 

[ziggy29]

There's no doubt in my mind that the success of working from home depends a lot on the type of job and the type of person.

Yep -- AND the management. If you don't have management which supports the concept, which can manage a "virtual organization" and which can establish metrics to measure productivity and effectiveness, it's not likely to end well.