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.

[Bogeyface]

I can see the logic of dealing with what are basically skivers, "working from home" when actually they are not. But to use those people as a reason to get rid of all remote workers is very short sighted. Many very productive people work from home and many work harder at home so that they are not seen to be slacking, I did when I had home work days.

I wonder if she is Katie Hopkins in disguise. "I dont see my children from one week to the next, I make it into the office, I do 28 hour days, I havent had a day off in 167 years, so every one else should do the same and if you can't then you either shouldnt have children or shouldnt have a career"

[BrandyAlexander]

Yabu. Seems like a sound business decision to me. And I work from home at least one day a week. I just don't take the piss.

[Yfronts]

all the home workers I know work longer hours then required. they are always shut in the spare room working away and only surface for coffee.

[Bogeyface]

Yabu. Seems like a sound business decision to me. And I work from home at least one day a week. I just don't take the piss.

How would you feel though if you and (say) the other 20 remote workers were told that you had to go into the office every day because of the actions of one remote worker? Surely the fact that you and 20 others DONT take the piss should count against the one that does?

[Startail]

DH works from home two days a week, it made a distant job offer far more attractive. It also allows him to concentrate on deepest darkest geek without people constantly asking him to fix their minor problems.

He wins, time and money not driving, work win by actually letting him debug the problem he's been paid to fix.

I win by having him home to take DD to guides. DDs win by not changing schools at a time in their education that would have been detrimental.

[cumfy]

yanbu gmail is much better.

[MidniteScribbler]

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.

This is exactly why companies are often against people working from home. Working from home does not mean that you get to not send your children to childare. You should still be sending them to care/hiring a nanny/whatever you would normally do if you had to go to the office. You are being paid to work, not to care for you children.

[Glittertwins]

The company I work for is US. They don't do WFH or flexible/part time hours. But working practices are governed by each country we are in, therefore I get to WFH and part time too. We get different holiday allowances too. Get over it. Without wishing to reveal myself or who I work for, you'd find life hard without our products in it.

[Timetoask]

In her industry, it is perfectly possible to work very effectively from home, and it makes for much happier employees. She sounds like a control freak.

[bruffin]

maisiejo

My company offered to let me work from precisely so I could save on childcare cost.It was their idea not mine. They didn't give a dawn about my childcare as long as I hit my deadlines.
This was 15 years ago when working from home was rare and I ended up doing it for 11 years.
I would say my male managers were far more than undressing than the female ones.

[bruffin]

Understanding not undressing

[noblegiraffe]

There's a phenomenon called the Glass Cliff whereby if a company is doing well, a man is more likely to be given the job of running it, but if it's failing, then a woman is much more likely to be appointed as CEO, when women are very rarely CEOs.
Then if the company does badly, as it is likely to do, this is used as evidence against women being appointed to positions of power.

There were many concerns when Marissa Mayer was appointed CEO of Yahoo (and she was hardworking and successful at Google) that she was headed for the Glass Cliff. Yahoo is most definitely a failing company, has had lots of CEOs over the last few years and then it hires a woman, and a pregnant one at that.

So it is therefore interesting that her sex has been the subject of so much focus in a thread about a simple business decision.

[theodorakisses]

It's a business not a centre to employ working parents. As a businesswoman, she has to make to best decisions for the organisation and it is hugely offensive to suggest that because she is a women and a mummy she should compromise the interests of the organisation.

[waterrat]

wow what a miserable bunch of posts. No wonder this is one of the unhappiest countries in western europe with the longest working hours - if you are miserable at work or have to trudge a long commute every day - then everyone else should have to as well.

We are an incredibly wealthy country - why not create a working culture that supports home life balance - not just family life, but for people without children who have passions other than work!

and because some people have to be in a workplace - ie. nurses - that means you don't care if other people have to needlessly spend hours in unproductive offices? how petty.

Home working is not about skiving - if it is done properly and where appropriate it is better for transport pressures/ the environment/ family life/ general well being.

[theodorakisses]

The only thing I object to on the OPs post is that she is suggesting that a CEO who is a mum should immediately treat mums differently.

[PolkadotCircus]

So how exactly would one care for 3 pre-schoolers and work full time at home whilst happily taking a full time salary without childcare?

What about those left in the office?

People abuse working from home.

Companies are having to tighten their belts.

We have a duvet day culture actually.

The poor woman is trying to do the best for a company in the shit.I suppose the alternative could be to carry on with a system clearly not working and being abused until the company goes bust and nobody has a job at all.

[Miggsie]

It is a silly decision.
the actual issue is they have ineffective management who can't manage home workers - not noticing that an employee has produced no discernable output in 3 years is not a working at home issue, it's a management issue. Word has got round that home working at Yahoo is a doss and you can take the piss - so guess what - they attracted a whole swathe of workers who are taking the piss - that is the company culture they allowed to happen.

I work from home quite a lot - travel is painful for me. Most of my team work from home a couple of days a week.
All the work gets done.

I know people who sit in the office surfing the net quite openly (not my team) - so what she has done is recognise a problem but create the wrong solution.

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

As far as I know, google never encourage working from home. Mayer is from Google originally. So you'd have more to boycott if your beef is against that.

My company doesn't allow it either. It's another big name US computer company with its headquarters in the Silicone Valley.

[MoetEtPantsOn]

Actually google don't allow it either

www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/apps-and-email-aside-working-at-home-not-a-good-idea-says-google-20130219-2epiw.html

[massistar]

There's a lot of unenlightened thinking on this thread which is really quite depressing. I work mainly from home 3 days a week, my nearest office is about 100 miles away. Most of my team are spread all over the country.

I reckon I get more done working from home than I ever did in the office. My kids have a nanny, I wouldn't dream of trying to look after them myself while working.

It allows me to drop them at school in the morning and finish at 5pm to make them dinner and do homework. I can then log back in when they go to bed to finish anything I need to. It's one of the main reasons I was able to return to a well paid career and have kids.

[DolomitesDonkey]

If I didn't work from home my husband would've found himself alone this morning - with two toddlers and a bunch of floaters in the bath.

It's interesting to read PollyIndia's take on the situation (as she has experience with Yahoo) - however, it is perhaps a short-sighted policy in terms of limiting yourself to "local talent" who can easily (or willingly!) commute to an office.

I'm a happier, more productive person for working from home.

[DontmindifIdo]

It's interesting the assumption is it's because of people not doing the work they should be that this ban is put in place, rather than if you never go into the office, it's very very hard to arrange meetings, get to know each other, have a standard company culture. People who are just someone you talk to on the phone or e-mail are not people you chat with. I have overheard our consultants discussing tricky clients while they are both making a coffee in our kitchen, unofficial 'mentoring' of newer consultants goes on when people walk past in the corridor and just mention they need a hand with X.

Often the most useful advice and ideas aren't the ones you get in the formal meeting, but in the brief chats people have walking round the office/in the lift/popping out for a coffee. "How's your day going?" is a nice little question in the kitchen that can lead to you mentioning a problem that you wouldn't think to formally ask for help on, but get offered help/ideas.

Overhearing things can spark and interest/idea. Just knowing what other people are working on can help see a way to fit it into something you are working on (or stop you wasting time doubling up).

This is a company that seems to have got rather stuck. They need people to be coming up with ideas, bouncing things off each other. At the moment, that's just not happening. I can easily see why if you have a large percentage of the staff who have never worked in the office and don't really know each other, that even if they are great at their individual jobs, you are still losing something. It might be worth sacrificing some productivity of bothering each other for advice on power point or interupting a train of thought to chat about the TV last night, you'd still as a firm overall benefit from this move.

[Dahlen]

Some jobs cannot be done from home, others can. Some people work well from home, others don't. I think blanket rules don't work and it's best to treat each case on its own merits.

When my DC were pre-school age, I worked a couple of days a week from home simply to save childcare costs. In reality, this meant doing very little work during the day as I was supervising DC, then working long into the night/early morning after the DC were put to bed. It was hard and I hated it. I much prefer being in an office.

I am now considering going back to working one or two days from home to save commuting costs, but the difference this time round is that I won't have any distractions and will be able to work office hours but at home. I could do my job from anywhere. THere is no actual need for me to be in the office, but it makes for a better working environment when we have that interaction, so I wouldn't choose to work from home permanently.

[fedupwithdeployment]

I work for a large US based company, and it is incredibly flexible. I work one day a week from home, and could certainly up that to 2 days without any problem. However, I prefer to be in the office and get the interaction with my colleagues. People pass by and run problems past me - they wouldn't do that if I was at home. I think it is important to know people and not be a name on an email address / voice at the end of the phone.

We do have some employees who are full time at home, and I have to say that I do not think that works. There will be some people who take the mickey, but I am not tarring everyone with that brush - my point about not interacting is more important.

Having said that, I have one colleague who works from home, in a different country. I and other coleagues are often asked to look at something quickly, "because I can never get hold of X." When I am working from home, I probably react more quickly to my emails. Not the case for her.

I can understand Ms Mayer's actions 100%.

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

That is the difference isn't it? The ability to work flexibly is not the same as working from home full time. I find interaction very important too. But I can see a day or 2 from home, or on a need basis, is very useful.

FWIW I have heard stories on how family friendly Mayer is. I remember one where a mum who worked under her at Google was allowed to add family events in her work diary. And said mum is allowed to leave overrun meetings for them. In their work culture, they are always on, but have the ability to be flexible. I think that's the balance I'd like. Being able to move work time around school events, GP appointments etc.