… But Yahoo’s CEO Made The Right Call
Davis
You have to feel a little bad for Marissa Mayer. First, she wound up with a bright spotlight on her as a new CEO of Yahoo because she happened to be pregnant when she took the job.
Then, mommy blogs lit up like the Vegas Strip when it came out that she would take a minimal maternity leave, far short of the standard 12 weeks. There was also a minor flap when she appeared on the cover of Fortune's 50 most powerful women issue, sans baby bump, even though at the time of publication she was indeed pregnant. Turns out she declined to be photographed and the magazine used a non-pregnant photo they had on file.
I'm sure Mayer is tired of everyone talking about her pregnancy and maternity leave. When was the last time you heard any discussion about a male CEO's decision to, or not to, take paternity leave? At least the latest wave of public criticism of Mayer is coming because of an actual management decision she made.
Mayer has called in all the Yahoo troops. No longer will employees be able to work from their couches in pajamas. It's all hands on deck because, as it says in her leaked internal memo to the staff, “To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side.”
Cue the outrage. It came fast and furious, with business experts lined up decrying the shortsightedness of Mayer's decree, saying it's destined to destroy Yahoo.
The thing is, Mayer was right. And I say this as someone who currently works from home.
Yahoo is in trouble. The company that essentially invented the search engine continues to lose ground to competitors like Google. Fixing what's broken at Yahoo is exactly what Mayer was tasked with doing when she came to the company from (no surprise) Google. By bringing everyone back into the office, she's sending a signal that times have changed, that Yahoo has changed. Sure, you can be efficient when you work from home. But when your company is circling the drain, it's a pretty good idea to get your crew in the office so you can look them in the eye and steer them toward a better future.
There are critics who pointed out the great irony that a tech giant like Yahoo would take such an old-fashioned stance and require (Gasp!) in-person interactions. But it's really not that unusual in the tech industry for companies to encourage, if not mandate, that employees come into the office. Think of all the stories about Google's headquarters and all the perks and free food. Why do you think they offer all that stuff? Because they want people in the office for as long as possible so that they get a lot of innovative work done.
If Yahoo makes a turnaround, I'm sure the company will relax the policy. Mayer is simply setting a tone that, as a new CEO, she means business. That's what the board of directors hired her to do.
Working from home isn't a right; It's a privilege if it's in the company's best interests. When the telecommuter's interests are in line with the company's, great. When they're not, expect to be called in to the boss's office.
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Christina H. Davis writes the Digital Diva column for the Worcester Business Journal from home (for now, as long as her boss approves). She can be reached at cdavis@wbjournal.com.
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