Work From Home? Not if You Work at Yahoo

Internet-based companies have often led the way when it comes to unique perks for employees — including flex scheduling and the ability to work from home. Yahoo's new CEO, however, sees it differently. A recent memo to staff asked those who work from home to come into the office starting in June. Needless to say, some who were not thrilled with the decision initially leaked the memo. (In Mayer's defense, recent reports indicate she believes some at the company have taken advantage of the flexible policy, leading to diminished productivity.) All Things D reports:

Courtesy of a plethora of very irked Yahoo employees, here is the internal memo sent to the company about a new rule rolled out today by CEO Marissa Mayer, which requires that Yahoo employees who work remotely relocate to company facilities.

“Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home,” reads the memo to employees from HR head Jackie Reses. “We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.”

Painfully awkward as this is phrased, it means every Yahoo get to your desks stat!

I reported earlier today that the move will apparently impact only several hundred employees, such as customer service reps, who work from home full time. But numerous sources told me that the decree extends to any staffers who might have arrangements to work from home just one or two days a week, too.

The changes begin in June, according to the Yahoo memo.

After that, employees who work from home must comply without exception or quit. One top manager was told that there would be little flexibility on the issue.

The anger from impacted employees was strong today, because many felt they were initially hired with the assumption that they could work more flexibly.

In fact, even waiting for the cable guy is questionable. “And, for the rest of us who occasionally have to stay home for the cable guy, please use your best judgment in the spirit of collaboration,” wrote Reses.

The tone and tactics have infuriated some at the company. Wrote one impacted Yahoo employee to me: “Even if that was what was previously agreed to with managers and HR, or was a part of the package to take a position, tough … It’s outrageous and a morale killer.”

Most tech companies encourage workers to stay on their campuses, offering free food and other perks. But none enforce such rules beyond staff needed to operate an office.

“Our engineers would not put up with that,” said one tech exec. “So, we’d never focus on it.”

In the comments section of my first story on the HR change at Yahoo, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg wrote:

“For anyone who enjoys working from wherever they like in the world, and is interested in WordPress, Automattic is 100% committed to being distributed. 130 of our 150 people are outside of San Francisco.”

The issue is an interesting and controversial one, with some certain that working at home is the wave of the future, while others considering it hurtful to productivity.

Well, we’ll presumably see which this way goes in time.

Working from Home? Don’t Make These Mistakes

With the recent emphasis on flexible scheduling in the American workplace, many workers — at different levels — are now afforded the opportunity to work from home at times. However, if you’re like me, the few times I’ve actually done this, I didn’t make it out of my flannel pajama pants. This article from Forbes explains why that’s not a great idea, and offers the 10 mistakes people often make. Here’s a bulleted list, but read the entire piece:

  1. Failing to smile when you pick up the phone. Just as customer service reps are taught, you come across on the phone better when smiling.
  2. Not getting dressed. Looking good gives you confidence.
  3. Having bad posture. It can lead you to acting too casually.
  4. Looking like a terrorist on Skype……..don’t do that.
  5. Having unflattering props around in a conference call. Beer mugs, kids’ toys, ashtrays, etc. don’t inspire confidence in your peers.
  6. Saying "no" in emails. If you’re giving someone bad news, call them. The personal touch is appreciated.
  7. Poor e-mail length. Be clear in what you’re asking others to do. Lengthy emails can lead to confusion of what’s expected, and short emails can appear stuffy (e.g. "Fine."; "Thanks.")
  8. Ignoring the noises around your house. If you’re on the phone, hearing lawnmowers or kids yelling "Marco! Polo!" may not win your client over.
  9. Forgetting the virtual handshake. Start a conversation with personal information to set a pleasant tone.
  10. Thinking you’re alone. You’re still connected to the professional world, so don’t multitask too much with personal tasks like laundry.

Employees More Ethical on the Homefront

Telecommuters are more ethical than those toiling in the office every day — or maybe being at home or another remote location simply offers fewer opportunities to get oneself into trouble.

Those are the less than clear conclusions from a recent study.

In a survey of 200 firms by the Ethisphere Institute and Jones Lang LaSalle, only 11 percent said work-from-home employees had committed ethics violations in the past two years.

But 36 percent reported "visible ethics violations" by employees who don’t work from home regularly, and 43 percent reported non-visible violations for this group, such as expense account fraud or bribery, MarketWatch reports.

Those of us who usually work from home would like to think this is because of our high ethical standards.

But it turns out we are nothing special. We’re just isolated.

"You can see why someone working from home wouldn’t get embroiled in some of the things that lead to trouble," Mark Ohringer, executive vice president and global general counsel for Jones Lang LaSalle, was quoted as saying.

When a worker isn’t in the office, the opportunity to tell inappropriate jokes or harass people diminishes (much to our annoyance).

Other misconduct includes theft, expense-report abuse and misusing social media, other experts say. In fact, the employee’s eagerness to maintain his or her work-from-home privilege may make that person extra careful to comply with a company’s ethics policy, MarketWatch says.

Telecommuting is becoming increasingly popular, and some employees may also behave well because they’re afraid of losing their work-from-home privileges, MarketWatch states.

“Everybody Work from Home!”(Sung to the Tune of Bob Dylan’s ‘Rainy Day Women #12 & 35’)

Do people at your office work from home? Or maybe you’ve considered allowing this but have your doubts about how productive that really can be? Well it seems Inc. magazine was curious, and as they were tackling the concept in an upcoming edition, they thought they’d try it collectively as a staff. And what they discovered surprised them. The New York Times writes:

“I thought it would involve so much change that it wouldn’t be feasible,” Mr. Chafkin said.

Then Jane Berentson, Inc.’s editor, gave the go-ahead. And in February, the staff of about 30 — editors, reporters and producers — created the April issue outside of the business magazine’s office in Downtown Manhattan. The issue goes on sale on April 6.

The production went off without a major hitch, with the staff members using nothing more than readily available technology, including Skype and instant messaging. And Ms. Berentson described Mr. Chafkin’s cover piece, “The Office Is Dead. Long Live the Office,” which is infused with first-person details, as richer and more unusual than it would have been without the experiment.

“I think about the magazine industry and how we’re going to use all of this new technology, such as the iPad, but there’s innovation in this very basic way as well,” Ms. Berentson said. “Why are we in the office in the first place?”

Away from the office, some staff members struggled to adjust, Mr. Chafkin said, as minor technical hiccups arose and parents working at home had to find ways to separate their work from their children. But in the end, most employees discovered that they could and should work out of the office more often — though they did not want to eliminate the office entirely.