Courtesy of Yahoo employees, here is the internal memo sent to employees from HR head Jackie Reses (left) about a new rule rolled out today by CEO Marissa Mayer (right), which requires that Yahoo employees who work remotely relocate to company facilities
YAHOO! PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION — DO NOT FORWARD
Yahoos,
Over the past few months, we have introduced a number of great benefits and tools to make us more productive, efficient and fun. With the introduction of initiatives like FYI, Goals and PB&J, we want everyone to participate in our culture and contribute to the positive momentum. From Sunnyvale to Santa Monica, Bangalore to Beijing — I think we can all feel the energy and buzz in our offices.
To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.
Beginning in June, we’re asking all employees with work-from-home arrangements to work in Yahoo! offices. If this impacts you, your management has already been in touch with next steps. 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. Being a Yahoo isn’t just about your day-to-day job, it is about the interactions and experiences that are only possible in our offices.
Thanks to all of you, we’ve already made remarkable progress as a company — and the best is yet to come.
Jackie
The anger from impacted employees was strong, because many felt they were initially hired with the assumption that they could work more flexibly.
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.
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.
The move goes against a popular workplace perk among tech companies and a wider trend toward more work-from-home options across several industries.
Technology has made collaboration easier for employees who aren't physically in the same space, and companies who back telework say it has helped cut costs and compete for wider talent pools.
"Ten years ago, it was seen more as an employee benefit. Today, businesses around the world are seeing telework as a necessity," said Ron Markezich, the corporate vice president of Microsoft's U.S. Enterprise and Partner Group. He led a 2011 Microsoft survey of more than 4,500 information workers that showed a rise in teleworking.
Having no central workplace certainly works for Automattic, the company that controls blogging behemoth WordPress. 120 employees work from their homes in 26 countries, and its leader, Matt Mullenweg, sees distributed employees as the future of work.
Mullenweg said. "Just because Yahoo can't do it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with being distributed."
Even the government sector, which isn't considered an early adopter of workplace culture change, has a star teleworking model in its ranks. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office boasts that 64 percent of employees work from home under various models.
"This has really been a very strong business strategy ... and it's a big part of our culture," said Danette Campbell, the Patent and Trademark Office's senior telework adviser.
The agency says it has seen increased employee productivity and significant cost savings on real estate — and the employees love it. "This is an initiative that really is a carrot for recruiting and retaining the highest quality employees," Campbell said.
Part of the results from a 2012 Citrix survey of what office workers do while they "work" from home arguably support Yahoo's decision. 43 percent of workers said they've watched TV or a movie while teleworking, 35 percent have done household chores, and 28 percent have cooked dinner while "working."
"People still face cultural resistance from their managers and teams, or find themselves as a second-tier citizen versus those in headquarters. The same often happens in "remote offices," Mullenweg blogged. The Citrix survey showed half of workers say their boss disapproves of remote working, and only 35 percent say it's tolerated.
Which side will win out in the debate over where to work? For Internet companies not called Yahoo, the so-called future may already be here. And big companies, like Amazon, include remote leaders - Its top engineer lives on a boat that's often sailing to Hawaii.
"The center of gravity for an organization should be as close to what they make as possible," Mullenweg said. "If you make cars, you need people in the factory. If you breed horses, be in the stable. If you make the Internet, live on the Internet, and use all the freedom and power it gives you."
Adapted from NPR and AllThingsD
