Benefits and Compensation

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s New Year ‘Tips’ for HR Managers

The act that gained her the most notoriety was her rule that all employees must report to work at the physical office—no more telecommuting. The move was met with disapproval in many quarters (although Donald Trump reportedly approved). Some called it a step backwards for flexibility in the workplace, especially for women, who often count on flexible schedules and telecommuting to juggle family and work.

And then, famously pregnant when she took the top job, Mayer turned around and increased paid leave for new parents, 8 weeks for the dad and up to 16 weeks for the mom, plus a new baby stipend. (Note, this is not extravagant by Silicon Valley standards.) Mayer also installed a nursery next to her office (at her own expense).


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Where Do You Stand on Telecommuting?

The issues of telecommuting and flexibility are at the forefront for many organizations. How much productivity is lost by conducting most business remotely (e.g., lack of face-to-face discussions, time spent on technological difficulties, various other inefficiencies). Or, conversely, how much productivity is gained by working out of the office with fewer interruptions? Or, do some home offices actually have more interruptions (children, pets, installers, chores)?

And then there’s the broader question of retention and morale. If flextime and telecommuting are what your best employees want, how wise is it to deny the privilege?

Of course, all decisions around flextime and telecommuting depend on the job and on the person doing it. Some jobs require little interaction, and some employees desire little interaction. Some employees’ home offices are comfortable and free from distractions. Some are not. Some employees are easily distracted and some are not.


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How Do You Know Anyone’s Working?

All of this is compounded by supervisor suspicion. How do I know my telecommuting employee is really working and not installing a new kitchen floor?

Evaluation of telecommuting employees is often handled by moving toward a ROWE—a results-oriented work environment, where employees are evaluated solely on whether they get their jobs done, with no attention paid to when and where they do it.

Are You with Marissa or Against Her?

As we welcome the New Year, it’s a good time to ponder some of the issues raised above. How will you handle balancing employee desires and business needs? (As one manager related, my company in a remote area of New Hampshire didn’t allow telecommuting, but we needed a ceramics engineer. The only one who fit our needs lived in Atlanta. Guess what, we now allow telecommuting.)

4 thoughts on “Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s New Year ‘Tips’ for HR Managers”

  1. Marrisa Mayer proves that you do not need to be a male CEO to be narcissistic. She must have read Carly Fiorina’s playbook on how to screw up an organization and will suffer her same fate.

  2. Would disagree with her decision as issue is not one of those that lend itself to a 100% rule. Not only is it needlessly disruptive to the culture (which is not always a bad thing) but more importantly ignores the issue if talent and individual and positional requirements.

  3. It’s a tough call. I like Kenneth’s remark in regard to the 100% rule. I think there is a way, although difficult, to look at it on case by case basis so that the company does not sink and HR doesn’t spend all its time investigating discrimination complaints and/or dealing with workers’ compensation claims of telecommuters.

    However, I think if workers are not getting the work done at home then they need to come back to the work site in order to be closer to the action. Also, their managers (with the possible assistance of HR) need to take the appropriate actions so that employees are meeting their work responsibilities.

    Finally, unless their is an accommodation issue in play, employees who are not meeting their work goals or are on some level of progressive discipline should not be eligible to work from home. In running a business, these types of decisions (i.e., working from home) need to have a legal and ethical rationale to support them rather than be viewed as an entitlement.

    I don’t think a lot of successful CEOs make these types of significant decisions on a whim — regardless of their gender. If you have hired emotionally intelligent and professional employees, they will appreciate being treated as adults when decisions are backed up with a clear, reasonable arguments for the changes that are made. You can never please everyone, but the good of the many will have to outweigh the good of few in order for the company to succeed.

    1. WatcherThanks for the comment. Luckily now that I have given my two week nicote, I really do not have to worry about how many days are in my work week. I can work at my own pace so long as I get everything that I need done to be successful. I do think for companies are moving to it, especially ones like your fiance works for. Its better for them to pay for 4 long days and not have to pay overtime.

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