All Yahoos Must Report For Duty

It must be hard for Marissa Mayer to have gone from such an
influential position at Google—having been the company’s first female engineer,
having designed and engineered over 100 features and products, and having created the basis for which the Google brand and culture can thrive—to CEO of the
struggling competitor, Yahoo. But she took the offer and quickly began making
changes where she saw fit…after she had a baby.

Mayer started “PB&J” (Process, Bureaucracy, and Jams), a program that allows Yahoo employees to share ideas and give upper management some feedback that will hopefully translate into new action. “What’s on your wish list for our corporate
culture and work environment?” Mayer asked in a note sent to employees 45
minutes after midnight on a Saturday back in August. She also made the Silicon
Valley firm-type changes of giving all employees free food, on site gym access,
and an iPhone.

But one of the CEO’s newest decrees hasn’t been as popular among Yahoos and other members of the technology industry. In a confidential—not so much anymore—memo sent out to employees by head of human resources, Jackie Reses, Marissa Mayer laid out this message: all employees who have arrangements with the company to work from home, or occasionally work from home on days that they’re “waiting for the cable guy,” must be present in the office. Working from home is no longer an option.

Clearly employee sentiments and opinions regarding their chief executive haven’t been too grand following the memo, seeing as shortly after it was sent out, it was
leaked to online technology blog, AllThingsD. Yet workers have a right to be
mad. It’s not just low-skill customer service reps that work from home for
Yahoo! but web engineers and designers too. Until the memo was released, the
“WFH” (work-from-home) culture was widely accepted and encouraged at Yahoo! The company’s gift shop even sold “WFH” magnets prior to the announcement.

On top of the abrupt nature of such a drastic change, many were confused as to why a female CEO who recently gave birth to her first child would suddenly
inconvenience others who have motherly and even fatherly obligations to fulfill.
However, some must take into account the fact that Marissa Mayer has the ways
and means to have a nursery built next to her own office and the fact that
she’s just not the average mom. Take for instance the fact that she announced the
“PB&J” initiative to her company via e-mail at practically one in the
morning.

She clearly has a definitive purpose and sees the need for this step as indicated by her going against the overwhelming wave of current research showing the positive
effect telecommuting has on productivity. A study done by Cisco found that when
its own employees were allowed to work from home, they showed increased levels
of productivity and overall satisfaction with their careers and their personal
lives. Not to mention, the company has been able to save a hefty annual sum of
$277 million by allowing employees to “telework.” Interestingly enough, a study
conducted by Stanford University that was released the same day Mayer’s
controversial memo was leaked, has even more convincing results. Call center employees of a Chinese Travel Agency who were willing to volunteer were assigned to either work from home or in office. Those at home produced a 13 % overall performance increase attributed to being able to make more calls per minute and work longer hours. They—at least those who did well working at home—reported having an increased overall satisfaction with their job. Who wouldn’t though; I’d love to make money in my underwear and favorite robe with a stocked pantry only a stone’s throw away.

Working home at home produces outstandingly convincing results; some that can be quantified and some that can’t. But telecommuting may only be effective among firms that already have a lot of forward momentum. Marisa Mayer is one of five CEO’s that have ruled Yahoo! over the past four years. They’ve been stuck in somewhat of a competitive slump and haven’t been able to catch much
traction. With the issue at hand in context, remote workers were also not very
well managed. In-office employees reported laziness, secrecy, and an overall
lack of work being done among telecommuters. Others said they had no idea some
of their co-workers were still a part of the team since they hadn’t seen them
in person in weeks, sometimes months.

At first thought, it seems plausible that in a neighborhood of all high-tech Internet
firms, such a practice would be universally accepted. But this industry is
based on spontaneous collaborations and being able to shoot crazy ideas back
and forth as soon as they come to mind. Yes, it’s possible to relay information
over pixels, but much easier to conceive the logistics of a new project when
you’re close enough to a person that you can high-five and congratulate them
for their creativity. That means more chemistry and better atmosphere, making
it feel less like a workplace and more like a playground for Yahoos—similar to Google’s work environment. Maybe that’s what Marissa Mayer is going for.

She’s trying to match the same spark that Google’s had for years and which she used to be a part of. More importantly, she wants to revitalize her company and get them moving. And if that means 2-3 hour car rides everyday plagued by traffic and more air pollution, or smaller timeframes to pickup the kids from math bowl, so be it. Marissa Mayer is making some bold decisions and she wants her Yahoos to trust her. Her point was not to declare that working from home is inefficient but rather to emphasize that having everyone in the office is more productive and more conducive to Yahoo’s currently lagging state.