Yahoo's Mayer: Bashed for her telecommuting policy
The CEO gave employees an ultimatum: Work in the office -- or quit. Now she's coming under fire for an 'awful' call.
When Yahoo (YHOO) last year tapped Marissa Mayer as its new chief executive, many thought the 37-year-old (who was a mom-to-be at the time) would prove a champion of working parents. But with Mayer's recent ultimatum that telecommuters need to either come into the office or quit, some of her one-time fans are turning on her.
Many comments on Twitter reflect disappointment with her stance: Her policy is "awful for ALL workers" and "[t]his woman is RIDICULOUS!" are among the tweets sent by irate consumers, some of whom had expressed previous support for her.
Mayer's new policy was leaked on Friday, when The Wall Street Journal published a memo that it said was disclosed by "a plethora of very irked Yahoo employees."
Sent by the company's human resources chief, the memo said, "We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together." It added, "Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home."
The reason for the policy change was that Yahoo found many of its telecommuters weren't productive, according to Business Insider. Many of them were depicted as hiding out, with Yahoo apparently unaware that some still worked for the company, the story adds. These hidden telecommuters reportedly worked in divisions ranging from marketing to engineering.
Regardless of Yahoo's situation with its telecommuters, Mayer's new policy is striking many one-time fans as, well, backwards.
More Americans are working from home than ever before, with a Census Bureau report from last year finding that 13.4 million people work from home. That represents a jump of 41% in a decade.
Many technology companies are big supporters of telecommuting, according to Fortune. Among those are Cisco Systems (CSCO), with 90% of its workforce counted as "regular" telecommuters, and Intel (INTC), with 81% of its employees counted as often working from home.
It's no coincidence that many tech companies support telecommuting: San Francisco, home to the tech industry, is one of the worst U.S. cities for traffic.
At least one rival is taking advantage of Mayer's gaffe, reports the Journal.
WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg wrote a pitch for working at his telecommuting-friendly company in the comments section of the article. He wrote, "For anyone who enjoys working from wherever they like in the world, and is interested in WordPress, Automattic is 100% committed to being distributed. 130 of our 150 people are outside of San Francisco."
| Tags: | DramaTechnology |
Guys , Are you all blind if not stupid and all together???
Who is this woman? A child prodigy?NO
A good mentor,NO! She is a snob!
Having media talked high about her a year ago doesn'tmean she is something special for Yahoo or
for any company as CEO
She is just a SPY sent from GOOGLE to sneak around and then help Google tobuy this company out or to come up with merger,
Poor Jerry Young
I say she made the right call. My employer instituted Telecommuting as an option on Fridays only two years ago. Overall I suspect productivity on Fridays dropped by 80%. Most employees were simply taking the day off rather than working from home.
Then Thursdays became the new Friday. People in the office for am hours only but not much getting done.
Telecommuting is a real privilege, not a right. Treat it as such or you will lose it as the Yahoo employees discovered.
Do As I Say... Not As I Do,
It appears that Marissa Mayer, who herself ostensibly benefitted from 'telecommuting' while pregnant, is out of touch with the realities of many home office workers who have parallel responsibilities as parents of young children. As a very highly paid CEO Ms Mayer can well afford to be at the high rise corner office and pay for full-time assistance with child care and ancilliary duties at her home in the suburbs. Due to cost and commuting isues this is certainly not a luxury that a majority of workers can take advantage of. Her shortsightedness on this issue is glaring and inconsistent with the technology and 'connectiveness' that Yahoo supposedly brings to the internet table.
Peace to all ~
DATA PROVIDERS
Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.
Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.
Trending NOW
- 1.jaso
- 2.binary options trading
- 3.jpm
- 4.yge
- 5.jim jubak
- 6.nke
- 7.bby
- 8.hd
- 9.rsol
- 10.best euro exchange rate
About moneyNOW
moneyNOW brings users smart, original and entertaining takes on the latest business and investing topics that are buzzing on the web.
RECENT POSTS
Researchers are developing unmanned aerial vehicles that can help the agriculture industry monitor crops and increase yields.
- Models have it easier getting into US than engineers
- Some of France's richest taxed more than 100%
- Bernie Madoff earns sweatshop wages in prison
- Motor home sales rise in hopeful economic sign
- Mike Bloomberg: Skip college, become a plumber
- Will Yahoo ruin Tumblr?
- Some customers ashamed of their McDonald's bags
- Obamacare could bring more Band-Aid coverage
- Taxpayers won't win on General Motors shares
MARKET UPDATE
[BRIEFING.COM] S&P futures vs fair value: +1.50. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +3.70. After spending the bulk of pre-market action in the red, equity futures have climbed to fresh highs. The S&P 500 futures trade with a gain of 0.1%, pointing to a slightly higher start to the cash session.
With no economic news of note, today's flurry of quarterly earnings has received the majority of the early interest. Home Depot (HD 79.25, +2.49) is higher by 3.2% after ... More
More Market News
TOP STOCKS
The hate for this stock is just ridiculous.
MSN MONEY'S
- Shared
- Commented
- Viewed
