Yahoo cracking down on remote workers

computer g33k

Work from home no more: How do you feel about Yahoo’s crackdown? | VentureBeat

I believe it should be done by case by case basis, not a blanket statement. What do you guys think about this move?

ptilsen

Bad move on their part. Really bad. It's not that there isn't value in coming to the office, but there is so much value for all parties in not having to come to the office every day. And at the end of the day, top talent will quit if WFH is never allowed. I know I would.

A reasonable rule might be on how often an employee may work from home. This move doesn't seem reasonable.

Xyro

"The new policy will most directly affect several hundred people who had negotiated work-at-home agreements (out of a total workforce of about 12,000), and who may not even be able to work in a Yahoo office without relocating."

This portion disturbs me. Is that even legal??

ptilsen

Legal, almost certainly. It may constitute contractual breach, but I won't speculate. If they have actual contracts (as opposed to simply employment agreements), it could be an issue.

TeKniques

Can't speak of what might be going on inside Yahoo, but I'm sure they have their reasons.

However, where I work there is a working from home epidemic. So much so that a new policy was drafted to put in place many approvals an employee must go through to be granted working from home privileges. I get it though, some of my employees get a lot of work done from home. A lot more then they probably would get done in the office because of many factors.

Xyro

ptilsen wrote: »

If they have actual contracts (as opposed to simply employment agreements), it could be an issue.

"work-at-home agreements" sound contractual to me but we shall see.

SteveLord

They brought in Marissa Mayer to turn things around. The media and tech community slobbered allover the announcement originally. Time to see what she can do. If this is part of the plan, so be it.

pumbaa_g

I have been working from home from past 4 years and trust me its not easy, the office time and home time blurs and invariably the family pays the price in the long run. Saying that the time saved can be utilized for personal development, for example I save 4 hours of travel time plus I have been able to take on additional work as I can manage my time better.
Their is a downfall that a few bad eggs spoil the party for people who are serious about work, I am sure every team/company has people like that who take WFH as an excuse to enjoy their time and do no work. Mostly because of this managers/HR come up with draconian memo's like this. Most times managers will pass snide remarks about how easy it is to work from home, but in the end if you can deliver the goods people don't really care where you work from

computer g33k

I'm interested to see how many employees leave the company and go to competitors just because they are no longer to work from home. They might lose some good talent with a move like this. Only time will tell if this is a good decision or a bad decision.

Mrock4

Working at home- whether good or bad, is not what's in question, is the fact they're forcing a ton of people to stop working remotely.

That being said, Bear in mind these employee's had telecommute agreements with Yahoo- which implies those individuals WANTED to work from home. What will this do to morale when they take it away- from a leadership standpoint that is what I'd be most concerne with.

pumbaa_g

For me its more simple then that, I will be happy to put in my 9-10 hours a day and go home and relax.

Currently I am working from home and get a call from my team for something which may be after my shift, I am expected to login and sort it out. Do I get paid extra for it-Hell No!

If I was told that I need to work from office I will not be able to deliver the same commitment.

Xyro

Mrock4 wrote: »

...these employee's had telecommute agreements with Yahoo...

Exactly as I stated previously... this is the real issue here.

the_Grinch

I tend to see this hurting them if their employees are anything like me. I worked from home for a month and while I didn't love it, the company forced us to so they could save a months rent on our old space (I don't blame them for that). Now the problem was we got hit by a big snow storm and a number of people took their phones home figuring they'd just work from home that day. Our owner had the Director of Ops send out an email saying no one was to work from home, if you weren't coming in you'd need to use a day. He also added that two people said they'd definitely be in regardless of weather. Welp, the entire helpdesk (minus one guy and one NOC guy) used the day and they got slammed big time. One of the sales people talked to the Director of Ops the next week and asked why he'd say that as they received complaints. He explained that the owner said we couldn't work from home and the sales guy laughed, "they did it for an entire month and I got calls saying how quickly things were fixed."

Thus is they agreed I could work from home (this is Yahoo now) and then they said you have to come in. If I could, I'd go in. But at the same time, if they called me when I was at home I'd tell them I'd have to look at it when I'm in the office. Gotta scratch my back a little bit, I'll go the extra mile, but they should at least compromise. Maybe two days work from home and three days in the office. They're an internet company for God sakes.

blargoe

I figure the folks that had telecommuting in their contract, will be given the option of a nice severance since Yahoo is the one who is not able to live up to their end of the agreement. If not, they will be paying out of their behind in legal fees.

GAngel

She should have just fired half of them instead subpar work has been the norm there for years. It's probably her end goal so she can do performance tracking and get rid of all the dead weight who joined after being cast off from MS,FB, apple and google.

RanMic

I find that I work less when I am in the office. At home I am paranoid I'm going to miss someting, so I constantly have my VPN connection running and checking stuff over and over.