During the recent snow storms, some employees stayed home and baked cookies, some braved the elements and slid into work, and some stayed home but worked nonetheless. In the midst of all that, word got out that Marissa Mayer, the new chief executive officer of Yahoo!, plans to put an end to telecommuting at that company later this year.
Her edict brought to mind the fictional boss Katharine Parker, played by actress Sigourney Weaver in the 1988 movie “Working Girl.” In that film, a woman has made it to the top, but doesn’t extend a helping hand to other female employees. Instead, she actually steals an idea from her secretary, another woman trying to break the glass ceiling.
Mayer is also famous for being a successful working mother, but one who is a workaholic who took an incredibly short maternity leave.
The memo to Yahoo! employees, sent by the company’s Human Resources department, explained some of the thinking behind the policy change: “Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. ... We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.”
Many companies find that allowing employees the flexibility to do some of their work at home results in happier and more productive workers. According to 2010 study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost one in four workers in America do some work at home each week. Thanks to advances in technology, many jobs don’t need to be done at the office.
It will be interesting to see whether Yahoo! becomes more productive and innovative without the telecommuters, and whether the company “family” starts to feel the love. But along the way, it is certain to lose some good employees, who may find new homes with other companies.