The year is 2013, not 1980. People expect to be able to work from home because the expenses for both worker and employer are much less. Memos like this speak to the need to control people using the outdated cubicle model. It will backfire. Then again, who cares? It's yahoo.

Indeed. The final flailing move by an (apparently) already dead former giant.

Exactly.

Watch Yahoo when the Microsoft ad deal is over. To quote the memo above: "the best is yet to come"

I worked for Yahoo for 10+ years and once I became eligible to WFH, I did so 2-3x/week, and I will say (with my then-manager's backing) that I was FAR more productive than when I worked from the office. Why? I didn't have to put up with numbskull self-important programmers constantly yakking to each other LOUDLY from the next set of cubicles about non-work-related stuff, and I wasn't being distracted every 20 minutes by some bored soul coming over to my desk to go for coffee or foosball, or just to talk about the spreading ennui of knowing we were working for a company who's glory days were long over, all while being mocked by the cheery emoticons and whatever new slogans someone thought would be inspirational posted on the elevator doors like some ironic torture device. Yahoo got a way larger ROI on me when I was allowed to work from home - I easily would put in 10 hour days from the comfort of my home office and the quality of my work never suffered, in fact, I say with full confidence that it improved when I was allowed this privilege. That said, Yahoo saw fit to get rid of me in one of the recent layoffs and I haven't looked back since. The changes in management became a joke, all the new goals and rah-rah strategies basically saying the same thing - I mean, how many times do you repeat that you have to become more "nimble"?!?!

Hope you got a decent severance.

NO ONE who is in demand (this is a very select few) will consider Yahoo as a prospective employer.

I can beat that. My last cubicle was on a cross-aisle between two major corridors, 20 feet from the breakroom, near a popular meeting room and 30 feet from the elevators.

Edit: a friend reminds me I forgot to mention near the (open) stairwell. (Clomping feet) and the thin-walled call center room that ran a radio all day.

How did you get ANYTHING done in that scenario? Cube farms are bad enough -- I refuse to work in them -- but that scenario sounds horrific for maintaining anything even vaguely resembling focus! The last time I was in a cubicle was in a firm where someone from another cubicle spent the entire afternoon walking from cubicle to cubicle starting the exact same LOUD conversation about a TV show he'd seen the night before -- apparently feeling compelled to review the entire plot with everyone in the cube farm.... by the 3rd person he went to, I was ready to scream and had to go to the manager and say "please, Please, PLEASE move me someplace where I can FOCUS on what I'm doing!" Foosball table... nice I guess, if you're into Foosball... Foosball table 15" from your cubicle, when you're trying to script.... not good, not good at all....

Seriously? I pretty much didn't.
I resigned myself to 50% or less productivity on the days I was in the office.

I went in at 7:00am and left at 3:00pm to avoid as much co-worker noise as I could (ANd tended to catch the vacuum cleaner between 7 and 8. I'd go out to the aisle and glare at her poor thing.)

I agree about being more productive working from home. Then again, there are those, of course, that take advantage of the situation and for those, if their professionalism and dedication is compromised, then I agree they need to be in an office, if not totally gone. However, if all is going well, why change a good thing.
Working from home, I am in constant touch with my boss, emails, phone calls and yes, more than the normal work day hours. I am responding at 11 pm, on the week ends and not because I have to, because it's not a problem. I am so happy to work from home, or where ever I might be, that work is integrated into my life so sweetly it is a definite plus for my employer to allow me this benefit. More time is wasted, as you said, between coffee breaks, schmoozing, dealing with others personal issues, long lunches, the possibility of irritable employees in the next cubicle... this is not good for productivity. I know I go into the office when I feel like it, and sometimes I do, but I get much less done there because of the interaction. We, our staff in and out of the office, are always in communication, banging ideas and sharing electronically and conference calling whenever we feel necessary. Yahoo, you are taking a huge step backward and I believe it will be counter-productive for sure.

"or just to talk about the spreading ennui of knowing we were working for a company who's glory days were long over, all while being mocked by the cheery emoticons and whatever new slogans someone thought would be inspirational posted on the elevator doors like some ironic torture device. " LOVE THIS. Yes, we felt it as far as Australia. Leaving there 4 years ago was the best move I ever made.

LOL- you hit the nail on the head... "numbskull self-important programmers constantly yakking to each other LOUDLY" I suffered these fools when I worked as a design developer. The Java and Oracle guys never gave me a problem... it was only the .Net bozos who couldn't keep their mouths shut.

U mad bro?

That's funny... in my office it's the Java team in the next row of cubicles that are constantly being loud and making it hard to focus on my (Windows Server based) work.

Well at least you're not bitter about it or anything

There are scores of people from top to bottom at Yahoo who show up at their cubicle every day, literally do nothing and then go home. Their jobs are safe, for now. Think about it--why is it so "critical" that everyone be in their "office"? So they can be watched, monitored, and evaluated for an eventual major mass layoff? This isn't about human interaction or impromptu hallway meetings--it's about maintaining a culture of fear and control. The real problem at Yahoo is a series of know-nothing HR regimes that adopt screwball philosophies completely disconnected from the way people really work, live, and create. HR at Yahoo moves in mysterious, draconian ways, clouded in newspeak, feigning humanism, but really dedicated to screwing people over as necessary. And free lunch is not a "great benefit", it's a token. Wake up Yahoos.

> cubicle

That is the problem. Trekking 2 hours to sit in a cubicle and use a computer is not sensible. You might as well be at home if you are in a cubicle with your nose in a computer all day.

I used to work remotely for a media company, and little did they know I worked well beyond my prescribed 8 hours.

Then they asked me to come to the office, and it basically forced me to ONLY work 8 hours. Also at least 2 hours a day in productivity was destroyed by my commute!

My situation was similar except I work extra hours IN the office. I get a lot done when the rest of the place flees at 5:00. Or 4:00. But a new manager came in and doesn't like the idea that I stay until 6:30 on good days. So they are demanding that I leave at 5:00. But they still expect the same productivity as before, only now they want me to work that much harder between 9 and 5. LIkely they want you to work THAT much harder now, in the less time you are allowed to do it. That you and I used to take longer they see as a sign that we were not working efficiently, you see.

They do that. Push you, push you, pick your brain, push you, pick your brain and so on, until they find all of your solutions to their worst case scenarios. When you've done that, they'll keep pushing until they push you out and then they'll drop your status and push you into some other line of work that they want someone like you to sort out and the process begins over while they save and make so much because of you. They are trying to trash you to their advantage. You'll never see the rewards of your labour. They don't stop.

Hmm... people do not receive all the products of their labour because the employer keeps part of it. He keeps part of it because he takes care of all administration of the company and because, by creating the company in the first place, he took a great risk because most small businesses fail. That's why people don't receive all that they produce. If you ask me, I think it's fair. The employers deal with all the risk and administration costs so it's fair they keep some of what you produce to themselves.

In the UK people are being pushed into self-employment and financial benefits and hand-outs are getting the clamp down in the hope of solving the Social Care issue by pushing people into the position of having no way out of doing it. If I were you, I'd go to the office because, if you really must work from home, you could end up changing your line of work.

Be honest. You rarely show up before noon. Otherwise, you have an 8 hour day, and if you can't get your job done, you ARE inefficient. Yes, I'm calling you out. Have some pride. Quit blaming 'the man'. If people rely on you, do your damn job. Quit pretending YOU fit between cracks. Deny this: I'll take your damn job, do it better, won't piss and moan, and be there on time every day. I'll even work late to do so. There you go...

Sincerely, "next in line for your job, no complaints".

Read his comment before you can say you can do his job better. He said he use to stay late , and now his boss says he must do everything in the 8 hours and not stay late. I doubt your next in line for his job if you cant read and understand a short paragraph.

Funny.

Yeah, because no company ever puts more on an employees plate than 8 hours worth of work -- right? Are you for real? A former employer of mine had someone leave -- they brought all of the apps he was responsible for and simply added them to my plate instead of replacing him. By the time I quit the firm out of sheer frustration at being abused, I was responsible for maintaining over 68 applications... there's no way in hell you can do that in an 8 hour day single-handedly.... it simply cannot be done. After spending several months coming in early, leaving late and skipping lunch (I was promised a huge raise, which never materialized), another firm contacted me and made me an offer -- and I took it. Firms will pile as much on you as they think they can get away with. After I gave notice the CIO came to me and wanted to know why I was leaving -- I was honest -- I can only hope things changed for the rest of the staff in my wake. They lost 4 of their key people in the same week for similar reasons.... there's only so much abuse people will take.

Honesty in exit interviews seldom changes a toxic environment, sadly. It just has the person who caused the issue rationalizing against all of your arguments and labeling you as the problem once you are gone.
It turns out that "it must've been that guy! Thank goodness he's gone!" is much easier than "there's a problem at the heart of this that requires more than a quick fix, it requires drastic change" for those thriving in (and likely also causing) the toxicity.

Don't forget, when the incoming team can't figure out how you got done all that you did they'll say you left with company intellectual property and sabotaged them, so by all means leave an instruction manual.

Not all companies allow for over time. These individuals are saying that they went above and beyond at home. Working from home made that more practical. If they are doing more than 8 hours and are now only limited to 8 hours, that is going to affect them. Someone has a two hour commute but they should stay until 8 pm? That's insane.

In my previous job, I would arrive late and stay late. My teammate did the same. We did (at least I did) most in the last three hours after everyone went home than in previous 5 hours with everyone in the office.

I can relate to that. The most annoying thing in my job during regular office hours is lots of office drama which does not interest me at all but which I can not overhear either. Also colleagues who tend to shout into the telephone so that everyone can hear how active they are make me wish I would not work in a modern, open space office environment. It's funny how I feel I am getting more productive as soon as those jerks leave for the day.

I really want a small room with a door I can slam shut. Or the permission to do home office every day. (Will not happen, immediate boss and also management are control freaks.)

PhilVoid = Marissa Mayer?

Spoken like a true lemming.

Yes, 2 hours or more wasted in commuting.

Hi Hashim - yes it is true, lots gets done in the minutes off the desk. For me the best ideas occurred on my way to work (40 min bike ride), and actually nobody paid for that. Did I care? No, until one of my boss tightened me to stop at reaching a 10 hours day (including breaks) just 10 minutes short of solving the whole thing I was working on all day.

It is really little things, not even aware to bosses, who are entrenched in different work network, often not seeing the eagerness of employees to solve problems more or less on their own.

Control seems to be the overruling behavior that often get's in the way. Are we control freaks only to cope with it by having the control target next cubicle?

Not to mention all the sick people at work....sneezing, coughing...etc. People who work from home don't get sick as much.

Agreed. If you're a self starter and disciplined, you get a lot -- LOT -- more done at home. The fact that you work at home also re-enforces that you keep engaged with your work. Whereas when in the office, you often make a conscious effort to not take your work home. To me, the key word is balance. There are certain things that work better in face to face meetings. And there are some things that work better in solitude. It is the balance that makes it work. Even for workaholics.

Yahoo no longer wants to be a top company. A no work-from-home policy screams "we are looking for people who comply, not people who create." in any field and that so includes engineering, the best people want the freedom to live on their own conditions, which doesn't sync with 9 to 5. Maybe Yahoo just wants to play ketchup with Facebook (their recent homepage change an example) and just survive. Ugh, sad to see this company go like that.

that's good insight, Sanjay. I'm just trying to come up with a large company where creativity is paramount across the enterprise. Sad I can't come up with one.

Apple, duh. Only the most-profitable company.

> perhaps

Lots of perhaps in your comment, not much actual information.

Also, the highway from San Francisco to Silicon Valley is bumper to bumper as it is. Driving 2 hours to use a computer all day is literally insane and is also bad for the environment.

Productivity and collaboration are not dependent on location. You can be in the same room with 30 others at a tech company yet never look up from your computer. You can be at home and be on a 4-way video call, brainstorming and pulling great ideas out of the ether.

I believe anyone who went to work for a company understanding they would have the freedom to work from home has a right to complain when the rules get changed. It is a substantial change negatively effecting the quality of life they wanted and looked for in a job search. To call people "over-privileged whiners" and saying they come from a "culture of entitlement" is demeaning, when quite obviously they are talented, intelligent self-starters who looked for positions fitting their desired lifestyles. When the job no longer provides the perks, it's time to get out. I suggest next time getting an employment contract that locks in the employer's promises so you can sue for Breach of Contract. Too many employers are getting away with empty promises. I think Yahoo will be losing a lot of talent.

Interestingly I noticed that some of the best people in Silicon Valley indeed work remotely, some in other time zones. It's amazing how many people work at company headquarters and produce absolutely nothing besides a perfect attendance record.

If you allow a good person to work remotely, you lock them in, because it's not that easy to change a Silicon Valley job if you're working remotely from Wisconsin. Yahoo, as the biggest SV has-been, must still have a fair share of brilliant people who stick by their employer in exchange for a flexible work environment. So even if these people are forced to move back into the Valley, don't count on them staying with the company that just shattered their Family's life. Sillicon Valley is an employee's market right now, especially experienced engineers.

I think Marissa is doing this move to act tough and counter the notion that she is a slacker-CEO herself, with all the baby publicity.

Mr /Mrs Elbertavonshlorf, your analysis might be true for some east coast government agency, but in Sillicon Valley it's far off-mark.

Completely agree. I used to work for MySQL, which was a totally virtual company, and a more talented and dedicated bunch you will be hard pressed to find. I now work for one of the most successful privately owned open source companies in the world, and a significant number of staff work remotely. Even office-based staff work from home two or three days a week. It works fantastically well. I am really not convinced chaining people in the office is the way forward, because I don't think it will lead to greater creativity, productivity and profit. It sounds like Yahoo management has run out of ideas...

except they wouldn't, because that's constructive dismissal that entitles your employees to unemployment benefits.

I strongly doubt it isn't working for the company. There is a style of management that is taught in business school which encourages the squeezing of employees in the erroneous assumption that it creates more productivity. It's been totally debunked and is archaic.

Finally, some sanity in this cacophony of "this aggression will not stand, man" dude-ism. I'm with you 100%. The indignation is astounding. Unbelievable.

110% with you. Had to institute this with my own staff due to low productivity. I refuse to babysit. I don't care about arrival time, but I care about being present. Many personalities cannot handle working remotely; perhaps this was the case.

If you feel the need to babysit then you either have the wrong staff working for you or you are have poor management skills. If you have the wrong staff, and if you hired that staff, you have poor management skills. It seems that no matter which course you take you may have poor management skills. Certainly, your condescending attitude reflects poor management skills.

Yahoo is pretty much synonymous with poor management skills.