To ask all MNetters to boycott yahoo ...

[theweekendisnear]

... because newish mum and newish CEO, Marissa Meyer, has just told yahoo employees that they cannot work flexibly from home anymore?

I am going to move my more-or-less 20-year-old yahoo account to gmail because of this. I am furious with this woman.

[scottishmummy]

Fact CEO a mother is irrelevant,unless your erroneously think mothers are more lenient
She CEO aid to manage,paid to do hard stuff.popular or not
No I won't support a boycott you have no legitimate reasons

[FamiliesShareGerms]

I'm saddened to see so many people on here who tar all home workers with the same brush (lazy, doing it to avoid paying for childcare, out shopping...) and who take the attitude that because they can't do it, no one should.

[noblegiraffe]

Yahoo as a company needs a massive kick up the arse otherwise it's doomed. If there are loads of people on the payroll who are not contributing as much as they should, then making it a priority to deal with that would seem like a sensible move.

Incidentally, would the OP have mentioned a new baby and referred to 'this man' if the CEO were male?

[scottishmummy]

When I work home I'm v productive,being away from office mileu lets me work
But in fairness yahoo can review it's t&c as it sees fit
I hope employer negotiates with employees and mutually agreeable resolution

[NeopreneMermaid]

The memo said that allowances could be made within reason for, e.g. "Waiting in for the cable guy." I think that means that working from home in any capacity (full time or part time) is no longer acceptable on a regular basis.

I think it's a step backwards.

If individuals have abused the privilege, then they should be called up on it - on an individual basis. A blanket ban will just demotivate.

[PurpleStorm]

It sounds like they're stopping remote working because they've got a large number of employees who are taking the piss (or who they think are taking the piss).

Remote working can and does work for some employees, job role allowing - but a lot depends on how motivated and dedicated the employee is. All you need is a few remote working freeloaders to spoil it for the rest of them.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Unfortunately if you are part of the corporate rat race its something you need to be prepared for.

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

I find it ironic that Silicon Valley in general is anti-home-working, given that it's an industry that has hugely enabled home/remote working!

[NorksAreMessy]

We employ a lot of people who work from home and several who work in the office.
The workload and commitment from the work from home contingent is equal to, and in some cases, greater than, the office based workers.
For us, it works well. But then we are a very family-orientated, small and friendly company where trust is a huge factor. Our employees often tell us that they know they are on to a good thing and will not do anything to jeopardise their job.

If something comes in urgently at 7.45pm, there is a queue of people ready to do it.
If somebody has a sick child, and has to go to the doctor, we don't count the minutes until they get back to the desk.

We run a company that we would like to work in ourselves.

I do think size is a significant factor. We know all of our home workers personally and know their children's names, personal circumstances and particular working styles. Yahoo will have all the problems that scale brings and cannot possibly have the same attitude.

[Viviennemary]

Personally speaking, I don't think this is a cause I would put at the top of the list of priorities. The new CEO can probably see a lot of things wrong and wants to put them right. Good for her.

[potsyandco]

OP, are you boycotting other companies for doing MUCH, MUCH worse things to their employers, the public, the planet??!

[potsyandco]

As others have said, what does being a mother have to do with this issue?

[nellyjelly]

In this day and age flexible working should be possible for many. You can build in safeguards so people don't take the piss. You have to have a degree of trust though. I regularly work from home and if I simply spent the time sat on my arse it would soon become evident as the work wouldn't get done.

I prefer to judge people on output. 'Presenteeism' is a big problem. I have worked in places where people were there but not actually doing much.

This woman looks to be finding ways to cut her workforce tbh.

[noblegiraffe]

If Yahoo needs to lose a load of people then getting people to quit in this way will probably be better for the share price than announcing yet more redundancies.

[Dromedary]

You couldn't do what she's done in the UK and get away with - not until the Tories have watered down employment rights even further. If you work from home on a regular basis it will be a contractual right.

[willesden]

I am a nurse. Unless all my patients come to my house, I cannot work from home. No sympathy here, I'm afraid.

[projectdoingmybest]

I agree with what she is trying to do. Without massive change in attitude and people working together Yahoo is going to fail

[nellyjelly]

The 'no sympathy' approach is a bit unhelpful though. Of course ins some jobs home working is not possible but for some it makes sense, cuts travelling time too. You still have targets, you still have to produce. It is useful inasmuch as you can hang the wasing out etc if needed but we aren't all watching TV!

I started work at 7.30 am this morning because I was working at home, if it was an office day it would have been well after 9 before I could have been there.

[PollyIndia]

I used to work for Yahoo!. I understand why she has done this - it was bloated and dysfunctional when I worked there 6 years ago - in the 4 years I was there, we had 6 restructures, but rather than getting rid of the useless management layer, they simply added new layers of management and new departments and it got even less productive and innovative. It's mental that Yahoo! is still one of the biggest digital media business in the world, as they stopped innovating years ago. Marissa Mayer has a big task at hand.

Unfortunately, as purplestorm said, while homeworking can be be more productive than working in the office, when you get to the point that there is a culture of people never coming in and freeloading, the only way to sort that out is to create a blanket policy banning homeworking. I get that. However I also now work from home (part time), and it means I can still breastfeed my 4 month old baby and be there for bathtime yet still be at my desk from 830-6 (I have a nanny - not possible to work at home without childcare). If I wasn't allowed to homeoffice, I would find it very hard to go back to work - to do my hours, I'd be out from 730 until 7 at the earliest and I'm a single parent so I need to not only earn the money but be both parents for my baby.

It's a shame that the situation was allowed to get to this point at Yahoo!. My sympathy is with the homeworkers who do their job well and need that flexibility but I understand why Yahoo! changed the policy.

[Fakebook]

NO.

Why do people always assume everyone will join their pathetic cause and boycott just because they've had a bad experience/don't agree with something about the company?

Starbucks is still thriving. ASDA, Tesco and Sainsburys are still open, even though their home deliveries are apparently shit. People are still paying their TV licences to fund the BBC. Nestlé are still selling sweeties and numerous other products and are doing well.

Unless this step yahoo have taken personally affects you, I think yabvu.

[ShellyBoobs]

YABVU.

What do you think about employers who insist on staff working nightshifts? Or on a production line in a factory? Or driving a bus?

I bet those inconsiderate bastards expect employees to turn up to work and do the hours they're paid for.

[INeverSaidThat]

YABU

All the know who work from home take the piss and I have known quite a lot of them.

[Dromedary]

The way to manage this properly/fairly would have been to find out who was abusing the system and sort them out, not just to order those who took on the job on the basis of homeworking to start commuting or get out. That is hugely unfair, and in this country would result in unfair dismissal and breach of contract findings. But employers can do what they want in the US.

[Xmasbaby11]

What's so great about working from home? I like having a workplace!

[Dromedary]

You might not like it so much if you had to do a long difficult and expensive commute, weren't able to manage the childcare (financially or practically), had to work in an open plan office with 50 others, etc etc.