Yahoo CEO: No more working remote -- get to the office or quit

Two of the best writers my former paper ever had were moved from writing to the desk. These were writers who covered the Goodwill Games in (then) Leningrad and and America's Cup in Fremantle, Australia, and everything in between.

They weren't happy about it, but they sucked it up and both did a great job --- and were a joy to work with.

Jobs change. Job conditions change. Roll with the punches and do your best. Is that really so hard?

 

Lost time? How's that? According to the workers, they're working the same amount of unobstructed time. So the only way this represents lost time is if a worker acknowledges that yes, in fact, he or she isn't working as much at home as he or she would be in the office.

I think probably most people came to some kind of deal with their immediate supervisors is how it happened. Regarding J-School Blue's example on previous page of working at a big bank with a formal policy -- banks are stalwarts of the stodgy old world. Tech companies overtly reject those ways. Would be very surprised if a lot of these arrangements involved signed agreements and such.

 

Also consider the costs of having to now own pants.

 

My doggie jammies hear you.

 

Commuting, I would suspect. I'll admit there's a big difference in rolling out of bed at 6:30 to shower, shave, dress, eat and commute to work for an 8 a.m. job, as opposed to (theoretically) being able to roll out of bed at 7:59 and be in front of your computer at 8.

Life's tough sometimes.

 

Eh, maybe. I don't put much stock in that either as I am unaware of any job that compensates for commute time.

Yeah, things change. Why anyone thinks things wouldn't change, especially after a failing company hires a CEO from elsewhere, is a mystery.

 

Many of us are familiar with the astounding inefficiency of newsrooms. People who work literally feet from each other have trouble communicating what they want/need/expect. So to act as if it's surprising that any company would have production/inefficiency problems when a large chunk of the work force never comes into the office is laughable. That business model is inherently inefficient, and in today's economic climate, there's no room for error.

 

It's not an issue of being compensated for the commute. It's an issue of now having to make an uncompensated commute that they didn't have to make before.

My commute is about 40 minutes each way. I can't telecommute in my job, but if I could and it was suddenly taken away, that added hour and 20 minutes sitting in my car would really suck.

Mayer has every right to do this. I suspect it won't be a very beneficial move, but it doesn't matter to me either way. Still, it seems kind of silly to suggest workers are wrong to be pissed about this. If I took the job with telecommuting as one of the benefits and it was taken away, I'd be angry. And for this to come from someone who had a nursery added to her office is roughly the equivalent of putting up a neon sign in the employee parking lot that says "FUCK YOU."

 

Hey, LTL, if they were compensating for the commute, that would be GAINED wages, right? Try to keep up.

You're now losing, on average, an hour and a half a day in straight driving. Yahoo's main offices are in Sunnyvale, Santa Monica and NYC. None of those are "It only takes me 10 minutes to get to work" cities. You now have to get child care. And yes, to start at 9, I have to get up at 6:30 right now. When I work from home once or twice a month, I get up at 8:30.

I'm not bitching. I work in the office, as does every person I work with. This won't affect me at all. But to say it's not going to have any impact on people's lives aside from where they set up their computer is just wrong.

 

Yeah, because American workers are become less productive each day. :

 

There's certainly nothing wrong with a new CEO changing things. But you do need to tread carefully, or you should,when if you're changing something that workers weren't just guaranteed when they were hired, but was one of the reasons they wanted to be hired.

I think she could have really made a positive impact if, instead of just doing this, she made some real changes that made giving up the telecommute attractive. I think EVERY major company should have a daycare facility.. a good one... on site. I also think that having comfortable break rooms and healthy, variable food choices is a must. It also wouldn't hurt to have a couple of dogs hanging around because the benefits of that are pretty well accepted now.

But that would assume that the people who runs businesses care about their workers.

 

How is Yahoo going to make money like Google? I don't see it happening.

70% of searches are done on Google -- 90% of mobile searches are done on Google. Last September, Google logged 12 billion -- with a B -- searches.

Google owns YouTube. Yahoo has what kind of video service?

Google Street View is now going inside businesses -- and once that takes hold, look out.

I just don't know what Yahoo has to hang its hat on other than the fantasy sports. I don't think Yahoo will ever ever come within the same solar system as Google. Google is that good, that powerful, that dynamic.

Marissa is in a no-win situation. Seriously, what service can Yahoo provide for me that makes me want to do business with Yahoo in the grand scheme of things? Nothing, to be honest. And that's why I will never leave Google. I reckon there are many others who feel like I do.