H works with Yahoo quite a bit and spends a lot of time at their corporate offices. He thinks the move was an effort to boost their office culture, which he says is lacking in comparison to other high tech workplaces.
I dont know though. I think its a morale killer and won't serve to accomplish any sense of loyalty among its current employees. Folks who work in that industry have a buffet of attractive workplace benefits, and WFH is an appealing one to anybody, whether its someone with children, an aging parent, etc.
Eh. I WFH full time and I can't get upset over this. I only WFH because DH's job moved me across the country and my employer allowed me to stay. The rest of my coworkers are still in the office. It's been 5 years now and every year I'm amazed that they let it continue. If I received this letter I'd be disappointed and hope an exception could be made, but I'd understand.
This is my situation as well. I have no illusions that I'll be moving ahead/getting promotions/getting raises at my current company. Basically, my husband got a great job offer 3 time zones away, it was easier for both me and my company to just keep me on and give me a work-from-home set up, so here we are. There are huge perks and huge downsides. I expect it to last about 2 years, frankly.
My company currently has several people working off-site, though. Hell, it's cheaper for them. They aren't paying for my desk/office space anymore.
That said, if they decided they needed everyone on-site at certain hours (although I do work during their normal business hours), that would clearly mean I would be finding a new job.
I don't understand the emphasis in collaborating in the hallways and cafeteria. Really? That's a huge thing? It seems so oddly whimsical.
i sort of get it. I talk to my co-workers a lot more when we are sitting next to each other than when we all WFH. Then we only speak if we need something from each other.
Oh sure, but I'm more likely to talk with them about a hockey game or last night's Downton Abbey than I am about new ideas that are going to move our company forward.
honest question - what does Yahoo do now? are they still a bygone search engine or what's their purpose? I will look it up, but the fact that I don't know this off the bat says a lot - unless I am unique here in not knowing
I read somewhere that yahoo email was the most popular web based email out there. Gmail isn't it -- it has its holds in the college educated crowd but huge swaths of America use yahoo for email. So yahoo mostly generates content for the interface that its email users use -- ie ads, as well as stuff pulled from the AP and other wire services, like news articles, celeb gossip, etc.
Post by 2curlydogs on Feb 25, 2013 10:28:18 GMT -5
As the (only?) resident developer on the board, I have a lot of thoughts but, ultimately, I don't have a problem with this.
From personal experience, while I do get some tasks done better at home (usually of the project/department management variety), there is no way I could do my job effectively while solely telecommuting. Impossible. Not even the coding.
When working in an Agile/Scrum environment (which is what most software companies use, or a variation of it), there is constant discussion and collaboration. The "watercooler/cafeteria/hallway" talk referenced is often used for the Daily Standup.
Developers who don't work collaboratively are going the way of the dodo. For better or worse (as an introvert myself) most programming is not done solo these days. You have a bunch of different people working on the same module or server control or what have you. You can pick your preference for communication, but you'd better damn well be able to do so.
From experience, it's a hell of a lot easier to be sitting together with Visual Studio open tracking thru code or brainstorming ideas than trying to do that over the phone. Usually when my portal admin and I were trying to work thru a problem, if we tried doing it over the phone or Skype/Facetime, it would result in one of us going "Oh, fuck it. I'm coming over."
I always thought that people working from home was not going to work. Look at our society where people are texting and not having an actual conversation even at the dinner table. Just seems that she is trying for us to reconnect on a human level, not an electronic one. No more hiding behind a computer screen pointing fingers when something goes wrong. I don't work for Yahoo in any shape or fashion. I am a Therapeutic Massage Therapist where face to face and hands on is a must, duh. Having a connection with my clients gives me a great understanding of what they need. I agree that Yahoo is attempting to create that exact type of connection with their employees to become creative in the development of the company. Yahoo employees, don't be upset, be happy your company wants everyone to work together, get along and be a happy family.
Kudos to the people that enjoy the solitude of working from home, not everyone has that convenience. Maybe it's time to take your talents to a different place.
And, yes I have the good stuff, it's called LIFE, some people should get some.
Post by cattledogkisses on Feb 25, 2013 22:11:43 GMT -5
I wonder if this is a case of a few bad apples ruining it for the bunch.
H's office used to work on a compressed schedule: 9 hour days instead of 8, and then they'd get every other Monday off. Some people abused it and didn't put in the extra hours, so they did away with it for everyone.
I always thought that people working from home was not going to work. Look at our society where people are texting and not having an actual conversation even at the dinner table. Just seems that she is trying for us to reconnect on a human level, not an electronic one. No more hiding behind a computer screen pointing fingers when something goes wrong. I don't work for Yahoo in any shape or fashion. I am a Therapeutic Massage Therapist where face to face and hands on is a must, duh. Having a connection with my clients gives me a great understanding of what they need. I agree that Yahoo is attempting to create that exact type of connection with their employees to become creative in the development of the company. Yahoo employees, don't be upset, be happy your company wants everyone to work together, get along and be a happy family.
You're obviously enjoying the good shit tonight, and the nice thing to do is share.
Local tech guy says insiders report the WFH crowd was not pulling their weight.
Yeah, that's kind of what I figured. I'm not surprised. I think it takes a lot of discipline to work from home and most people don't have it. I don't. Clearly. I barely have enough discipline to work in my office.
Yup. This reads to me as a company putting its employees on notice that they will be assessing both the quality and quantity of their WFH in the near future. I don't see why anyone is shocked. The company is sinking and they want to be sure everyone is pulling their weight, particularly if they are needing to lay off people.
Obviously I don't do office work, but I'd much rather be in a climate where my work was being assessed prior to a possible firing/change in my work environment than trying to guess if I'm going to get laid off.
Post by heliocentric on Feb 26, 2013 10:24:20 GMT -5
I think blanket statements one way or the other aren't useful. Yes, there are some jobs that are probably not conducive to WFH and some people who would not be productive. There are also jobs where WFH works really well and people who have the personality suitable for it. It's not all or nothing which is why a blanket approach like seems weird. However, she knows her industry and can do whatever she wants, it just doesn't seem forward-thinking which is what I expect from a tech company.
Now I feel like I do have to defend WFH a bit. It works for my job where my interactions are primarily with people who aren't in the office anyway. Even when I'm in the office, it's likely that one or more people joining a meeting are doing so remotely because they are traveling, based in another location / time zone, etc. Tomorrow I have to host a 6am conference call with Asia and Europe. We will work together on a shared document via webex. We just completed a major project by working this way and having only one face-to-face meeting. It really can be done for some jobs provided the workers use the tools well and people can get over the mental hurdle that face to face is always best.
I should add that I do go into the office a few days a week because there are some tasks that I can't do from home. Even when I'm there the "collaboration" is hit or miss because of travel schedules. I also find that a lot of what people consider collaboration and "team building" is just shooting the shit-type talk that makes extraverts feel warm & fuzzy but isn't really helping get work done. I'm not suggesting that collaboration isn't required for some jobs and doesn't add value to most jobs, but it's not always as important as we are led to believe for EVERY job and it can be done in other ways once people get used to doing it differently.
There are so many tools available--email, IM, webex, teleconferencing, mobile phones, regular phones, VOIP--that it is never difficult for me to find coworkers and them to find me. I've had several occasions where my own boss called me and had to ask where I was because the process is that seemless he can't even tell. (My VOIP phone allows me to pick up calls that come into my desk phone from anywhere in the world.)
Wait... let me get this straight. She's a CEO of a Fortune 500 company who asked for a... PERK!? And then PAID for it herself? That IS outrageous. I mean, we don't know what a "nursery" "in her office" even means. It could mean that she is napping and playing with the baby and watching barney all day. But since Yahoo's stock is up 50% over the last year, I'm guessing it's not something that is keeping her from doing her job. So perhaps it could be that she had a small nursing room equipped so she could have her nanny bring the child in to nurse. Or a space so she could from time to time pump. Or maybe even a space that could act as a sort of play area in the absence of other on site care.
And where did this quote come from: "Mayer, 37, told fellow "Yahoos" that they must work in the office and should quit if they "couldn’t or wouldn’t." " It was no where in the memo - indeed, the memo said that if the change affected an employee their management was in touch to work out an arrangement.
It's interesting, I've found myself become a huge defender of MM, since I feel like the criticism of her is rooted almost entirely in our obsession with judging the choices of professional women.
The nursery thing does not bother me a bit. If she didn't have that, and her kid was watched by a nanny all day as she put in 18 hour days, can you imagine the comments she would get for THAT?