Yahoo CEO Demands Telecommuters Report To The Office

know1

Jeanwah wrote:

know1 wrote:

We definitely have more flexibility these days to be productive from other places.....

....but I think there are a TON of people who take advantage of it unnecessarily.

I also think it is good for people to get together and work from the same place.

There's a happy medium somewhere, but everybody knows someone these days who is completely scamming the system by working from "home" far too much.

This is a broad generalization. I wrote a proposal to telecommute so I could work some time from home while taking care of my daughter and achieving more of a work-life balance, that many parents need.

Only those who fit the bill to work at home have to show that they can be trusted to work remotely, complete their work, return calls, attend video-teleconferences, and so on. You have to prove yourself. So if you think that it's a lazy way of working? Then you know nothing about telecommuting.

I just think it gets abused. People didn't have this option so widely available to them 10 or 15 years ago.

I think it speaks to work ethic at least a little bit to be willing to come into the office on a regular basis.

LloydXmas

I telework three days a week. I probably get more work done in an 8 hour period than I would in the office. It does suck though when I'm extremely busy. Work 8 hours, take care of the kids, do dad stuff and then work another 4.

I do like to go into the office more often every once in a while. Even if it's for a half day. For Instance, I was in the elevator yesterday talking with 2 executives and a medical director. you can't get that type of interaction at home all the time. Maybe this is the point the CEO is trying to make?

Most people that work in my department are from CT. Since the beginning of our telework program, management has the entire workforce come in for the first thursday of each month, training sessions and management meetings.

People do take advantage of the situation and I think it ends up reflecting on their performance and year end results..

I've heard of other departments in my company taking away the telework program because of one person. I

cincybearcat

Jeanwah wrote:

Telecommuting and being flexible is the future for company employment. This CEO is looking to the past to solve her company's problems and they're likely to lose some great employees because of it.

As for your first sentence, you could be correct.

But things aren't going well, you need more control until you fully understand the issues.

As for losing great employees...probably will lose some. Will also lose bad ones. It's a bold move for sure, and I can understand people being upset.

Smellyman

know1 wrote:

Jeanwah wrote:

know1 wrote:

We definitely have more flexibility these days to be productive from other places.....

....but I think there are a TON of people who take advantage of it unnecessarily.

I also think it is good for people to get together and work from the same place.

There's a happy medium somewhere, but everybody knows someone these days who is completely scamming the system by working from "home" far too much.

This is a broad generalization. I wrote a proposal to telecommute so I could work some time from home while taking care of my daughter and achieving more of a work-life balance, that many parents need.

Only those who fit the bill to work at home have to show that they can be trusted to work remotely, complete their work, return calls, attend video-teleconferences, and so on. You have to prove yourself. So if you think that it's a lazy way of working? Then you know nothing about telecommuting.

I just think it gets abused. People didn't have this option so widely available to them 10 or 15 years ago.

I think it speaks to work ethic at least a little bit to be willing to come into the office on a regular basis.

You also used to be able to go home after work and forget about it. Mobile phones, Blackberries, smartphones email etc. made most positions a 24 hour gig.

Prince Of Dorkness

Meh... sadly people are irresponsible.

I telecommute two weeks out of each month because the studio I work for is in SF and my primary house is in LA. So while we're in production I live at my house in SF and when we're not I live in LA with my husband and the boys.

So I have an office in the converted garage in my house. And it works because I'm not a lazy slob who spends all his time on Facebook and Twitter. If you can't do that... you can't work at home.

Smellyman

Prince Of Dorkness wrote:

. And it works because I'm not a lazy slob who spends all his time on Facebook and Twitter.

Just here.

Prince Of Dorkness

Smellyman wrote:

Prince Of Dorkness wrote:

. And it works because I'm not a lazy slob who spends all his time on Facebook and Twitter.

Just here.

Well of "all my time" constitutes three posts made yesterday, all of which were made in the evening.... I guess I'm guilty of that.

know1

Smellyman wrote:

You also used to be able to go home after work and forget about it. Mobile phones, Blackberries, smartphones email etc. made most positions a 24 hour gig.

I still go home and forget about it. It's all about setting boundaries.

hedonist

know1 wrote:

Smellyman wrote:

You also used to be able to go home after work and forget about it. Mobile phones, Blackberries, smartphones email etc. made most positions a 24 hour gig.

I still go home and forget about it. It's all about setting boundaries.

I do too. 24/7 accessibility is not part of my life, and not only as relates to work.

That said, I see the benefits of working from home (with the assumption that one IS actually working from home; the few times I've "done" it, I was much like JasonP :P ), as I do the benefits of direct interaction like Lloyd mentioned.

I suppose it boils down to just being responsible, accountable...whether in the traditional work environment or not. Do what you need to do, and if you can't (or are unwilling), then do something else.

MotoDC

cincybearcat wrote:

mikepegg44 wrote:

correct, I would seriously read up on a ROWE environment. If the team needs me at 8:00 that is where I have to be. It is an interesting working environment. The standards are for individuals as well as teams. It is a pretty cool concept. I think all work environments have there draw backs, ROWE can certainly have some, especially in a union shop, but outside of that, it is a solid way to do business. It isn't just come and go as you please that is for sure.

Hahaha, you know I thought you made up your own acronym. I'll look it up so I knwo what the hell you are actually saying now!!!! I had no idea someone made it an "environment".

Cincybearcat, you are not alone.

Took me a couple posts to realize mikepegg wasn't just waxing theoretical on some libertarian tangent again.

mikepegg44

MotoDC wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

mikepegg44 wrote:

correct, I would seriously read up on a ROWE environment. If the team needs me at 8:00 that is where I have to be. It is an interesting working environment. The standards are for individuals as well as teams. It is a pretty cool concept. I think all work environments have there draw backs, ROWE can certainly have some, especially in a union shop, but outside of that, it is a solid way to do business. It isn't just come and go as you please that is for sure.

Hahaha, you know I thought you made up your own acronym. I'll look it up so I knwo what the hell you are actually saying now!!!! I had no idea someone made it an "environment".

Cincybearcat, you are not alone.

Took me a couple posts to realize mikepegg wasn't just waxing theoretical on some libertarian tangent again.

my posts are always succinct, on topic, and short.

Now, let me tell you how I feel about speed limits

cincybearcat

Hey mike, they mention ROWE.... And how it didn't work!!!

http://money.cnn.com/m/#!/2013/03/05/te ... est%20News

dancepartner

I once read where something like 80% of us need to clock in & be told what to do.
For me, the 100% me, i'd say I'd need to clock in 20% of the time & could do just fine on my own the other 80% of the time. I'd guess that would break down into about 30 hrs a week governing myself -- being productive, & about 10 hrs a week clocking in reminding myself to be productive! Otherwise, before I knew it, I'd be on the golf green with Jason P. Maybe Yahoo needs to break it into percentages....

know1

Apparently, she based her decision on actual performance numbers and monitoring of people logging in. I guess she's saying that she's open to people working from home, but the evidence indicates that the people can't handle that responsibility in general and have under-performed.

mikepegg44

cincybearcat wrote:

Hey mike, they mention ROWE.... And how it didn't work!!!

http://money.cnn.com/m/#!/2013/03/05/te ... est%20News

I saw that. That isn't Best Buy's only problem

If you are lax with your results, or you have too many workers, an environment based on results only won't work. People have to buy in at the supervisory level. I will say the training we have received over the last year or more moving towards this environment has really paid dividends for my staff. Working from home has actually allowed us to get ahead in many areas. But if you aren't on top of it, people will take advantage.