Delores Umbridge takes over Yahoo and makes it a bad place to work

In my head, Yahoo went by way of AOL years ago.  I’m impressed they still have a company at all, but they do, and they decided to make a really forward decision and select a female CEO….who apparently thinks entirely backwards. 

Marissa Mayer (no relation to John) decided this morning that Yahoo employees could no longer work from home.  They had to show up to the office…or quit.  Mayer’s decision to do this is apparently to attempt to revive Yahoo.  Good luck, lady.  You just made a decision that not only hurts your work force- it promotes inept management.

That’s right- this decision will do nothing but inspire more mediocre managers within Yahoo.  Good managers set goals and tasks that are clear and measurable for their teams.  Shitty managers don’t do this and then they need to see you in the office to track your every move to make sure you are working.  How do I know?  Experience- I’ve been there!

Ironically, I had previous employment at a remote access company (company A) who also did not let their employees work from home (another genius decision).  Since I was coming from a different collaboration company (company B) who encouraged this practice- it took some getting used to.  Seeing both sides of the coin here, I have to say- employees at company B were less burnt out, happier, more effective, and frankly- screwed off less.  Employees at Company A had way more bad days, got frustrated easily, took longer lunches, did more online shopping, and broke off into “rage meetings” more often (meetings with each other about how stupid something is, how stupid someone is, or their general and mutual thoughts of suicide).  Other findings were that management at company B was way better.  We had set goals, timelines and achievements.  At company A, we had that stuff on paper, but not in practice.  My manager was inexperienced, non-communicative, and, well….kind of a dick...But I digress. 

Bottom line- reporting to the office every to be seen at your desk is just foolish.  It makes employees feel like they are being babysat.  Grown people know what they have to organize and get accomplished.  If that means they occasionally have to put in a day from home because their life warrants it, let them.  Just make sure they are clear on the tasks they need to get done and measure those tasks.  It’s not about where you work- its what you produce for the organization that counts!

Now that my current job has me traveling all over God’s green earth, the ability to work from home gives me some sanity when I am back from those trips.  On days I do this my productivity is not less than when I am in the office.  In fact, I notice on days I work from home, I am actually logged on longer than I am from the office.  Other benefits include:

 

-          An easier commute (it’s exactly 34 steps between my bedroom and my home office)
-          An earlier start time (I get ready much faster by forgoing makeup and hair)
-          The ability to get in a run or attend a workout class (yeah, because we don’t want to die at our jobs, Marissa)
-          Better organization (folding laundry while on a conference call never hurt anyone- it’s not my fault I was born with the ability to multi-task)
-          Environmental benefits (my carbon footprint is no small thing, but I save on emissions by WFH)

Marissa Mayer’s next decree is to replace ball point pens with feather quills and touch tone phones with the old reliable rotary dial...What a yahoo... (see what I did there?)