The Working from Home Discussion is somewhat pointless

At first I couldn't believe that Marissa Mayer's simple decision to stop the Yahoo employees from woking from home would lead to such a hefty discussion on the web. Working from home is certainly a great concept but like with so many other things should be used with moderation. She's an experienced manager and from what I read it's clear to me that she had to turn a derailed working culture around. 

If you read the Memo she sent it is clear that her focus is on restoring team-work. Apparently the feeling of achieving a goal together got lost and she decided that the only way to restore team-work and foster team-spirit is to simply make sure that the employees work closely together.

All the arguments about how communication technology have make working from home a viable alternative do not adress the value-add of working together while being physically in one space. 

Working with people in one space or room allows to closely manage the outcome and check productivity. It ultimately ensures that there are ongoing checks and balances regarding the company's direction. That in turn contributes to quality and efficiency. If a company's employees lose a sense of direction, this immediate costs in terms of quality and inefficiency are enormous. The costs to turn this around, as we see currently happening at Yahoo!, can be substantial as well.

My view on this is simple:
- Foster team-work when a company is in a situation of crisis and change. In this case you need short communication lines and regular meetings to establish a sense of urgency and manage change.
- Allow working from home when the change is over and limit it to a 20% home, vs 80% office work.

Only if you are in a business where team-work is much less important, e.g. in translations, the amount of homework could be increased.

The upside of working together and socializing work challenges is such that even free lancers have discovered the upside of working in the same space, while keeping their independency.

In short I do think that this topic should be managed with the company's strategic direction in mind. As an old African saying goes: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. 

That so many got all excited about the ban shows how socially important this topic is. As I said it should be applied with moderation and this decision should be owned by the CEO. For the rest I think all the excitement is somewhat pointless.

Marrissa Mayer has achieved at least one thing: a lot of exposure for Yahoo! in general and for her as an executive in particular. I can only say: bravo!

Thanks for reading my blog.

Matt

Or if you want a totally different opinion on this topic read the Oatmeal on Working from Home.