The recent decision by Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer to call in the company's many employees who had standing work-at-home arrangements and require them to regularly report for work at the company's campus in Sunnyvale, Calif., has drawn both positive and negative responses from the public.
Many, like Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, opposed Mayer's move on grounds it either perpetuated an adversarial relationship among employees or violated the rights of employees to care for their families at home. Others, like Donald Trump, commended Mayer for taking steps to right what critics say has long been a listing Yahoo! ship.
A second glance over the text of the original memo Mayer sent her employees shows that, despite the howls of pitchfork-ready parents throughout the land, the policy change did not infringe on the ability of employees to occasionally work from home to address family matters.
A Business Insider report cited several unnamed sources inside Yahoo! who suggested work-at-home arrangements had devolved into an untenable mess that was negatively impacting the company's productivity. Among other things, the sources alleged:
- Yahoo! has a huge number of employees who simply never visit the head office;.
- Many of those remote employees were not considered productive;
- The communication between the company and some work-at-home employees was so rare, few in the company even knew if they were still on the Yahoo! payroll;
- Those working at home represented many divisions in the company --- customer support reps., marketing, engineering, etc.;
- At least one source told Business Insider that over the years, Yahoo! had developed an infrastructure that generally had become bloated lazy.
A 2011 study by workplace analyst Telework Research Network found the number of Americans who report home their main place of work rose 73 percent between 2005 and 2011. On the other hand, only 2.5 of all employees claim that distinction.
And while the data also suggests there are overwhelming reasons to telecommute --- including the reduction of travel-related expenses and impacts on the environment --- the study also notes work-at-home arrangements could hurt a company's bottom line where such work situations strain the interpersonal interactions between employees.
The TRN survey shows a company that offers work-at-home options may have to also deal with resulting issue surrounding management mistrust, employee fears that if they aren't at the office they'll be passed-up for promotions, co-worker jealousy, protecting company security, keeping all employees current with infrastructure changes, nurturing collaborative relationships, figuring out tax laws, steering clear of employment law and OSHA concerns and abiding my local zoning issues.