Interesting news out of the Yahoo HR Department yesterday regarding a memo discouraging employees from working remotely. It sounds like the new policy will mostly affect employees that work remotely full-time, but the wording of the memo also seems to indicate that teleworking for normally on-site employees is something to be avoided:
To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices.
In the HPR’s response to Anne-Marie Slaughter’s epic Atlantic article, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” teleworking came up as one of the best ways to allow employees to formulate a work schedule that works for them and their families. It is interesting that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer-who has both publicly stated that family is more important than work and received criticism for returning to work just two weeks after giving birth-would approve such a shift. Mayer has been hyper-analyzed, perhaps unfairly, since taking over Yahoo’s top job, and a move like this from a male CEO would probably pass with considerably less media attention. Nevertheless, the implications for Yahoo employees who use teleworking to do more than “stay home for the cable guy,” as the memo reads, are real. Add in the fact that teleworking has actually been shown to increase productivity, and you get a rather questionable decision from Yahoo.