Recently appointed Yahoo CEO has banned her employees working from home.
I must say when I read this I did stop and think - she can't be serious. Not in this day and age!
The reason she has given is that the speed and quality is sacrificed when people work from home and some of the best decisions are made at impromptu meetings in the office.
In my humble opinion this is a backward step given the technology that is available to us. The ability to work remotely is much easier these days and certainly more effective.
The trend these days for most organisations is to move towards employees having flexible work options and be able to work remotely to fit into lifestyles.
People are working longer hours, commuting further and sometimes working from home can in fact be more effective.
In fact as a country we are on the push to double the number of people who do work from home.
Sure there are some who would perhaps take advantage of the concept but there always will be and they most certainly would be in the minority plus the output would very quickly confirm to managers if not work had been done.
Gone are the days where business owners and managers believe that unless you are in the office or at your desk you are not productive.
And it is a little scary to think that a global group like Yahoo is clearly heading in this direction. It will be interesting to see if there is any backlash from the employees.
From my prospective as long as the work is done, on time, effectively , efficiently and to standard why not, from time to time, do it from home.
I have often been the most productive when I am sitting at home on my couch in my PJ's working.... in fact I could be doing that right now and you wouldn't really know!
