During the late 90s, I found an awesome job that I loved, but it required a 75 mile commute one way, from Connecticut to New Jersey. Yeah, it was mostly highway driving and I completed it in about 90 minutes or so each way, but with occasional delays, I was spending about 20 hours each week driving. Around that time the Internet was just starting and my employer was terrified how their business of information collection and processing would be impacted by it, so they were very reluctant to embrace anything new, including telecommuting (which was emerging as new concept in the dot-com boom). Since several employees were like me, eventually, they let us work one day from home, that we got to choose. The company insisted on a separate phone line so that work calls could be redirected and an Internet connection, which was fine for me, but wow, it was awesome. I got to sleep late, and a minute after my office closed at 530 PM, I was home. It made such a difference in my life. Eventually, I did leave the company because of the commute and finding an even better job in Massachusetts.
The Boston company was much more progressive and treated me even better. They also embraced the Internet and new technologies, but telecommuting was still a no-no. In fact, I was often expected to go to work during the weekends, mostly on Sunday, because one of my bosses was a Jew (if not, I would have probably gone to work 7 days a week). While there were so many pluses about that job, the only time that I could kind of work from home was during snowstorm or when I was not feeling well.
After I left that work and became an entrepreneur, I have been working from home for about a decade now. While I do not want to sound arrogant and believe in the whole 'never say never' thing, I really hope that I never have to go to work in an office again. I simply cannot imagine wasting time driving to and fro from work, getting dressed up formally (unlike the impression people have of work at home types in their PJ's, I follow a fairly strict routine of morning workouts, breakfast, dressing up in shirts and jeans, and working all day except for lunch and coffee break in the afternoon), and then spending even more time and money on car repairs, maintaining of wardrobe, and having less energy overall due to the commute.
That is why it was disappointing to read that Yahoo is now forcing its employees to stop tele-commuting. We all know that Yahoo is in deep trouble and if it goes out of business, no one would be surprised, but it is laughable that the company is blaming its trouble on employees not coming to work in an office. The company memo said, "...communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together."
Indeed, it is important to have that interaction but in 2013 when there is greater push to collaborate online, it seems like a step back for Yahoo to do this. In fact they should have tried to develop technology to make working from anywhere even more effective. And yeah, human interaction is important, but that could have been accomplished by just one day when everyone could be in the office. I am expecting that the good Yahoos will simple leave this dead-end company.
The Boston company was much more progressive and treated me even better. They also embraced the Internet and new technologies, but telecommuting was still a no-no. In fact, I was often expected to go to work during the weekends, mostly on Sunday, because one of my bosses was a Jew (if not, I would have probably gone to work 7 days a week). While there were so many pluses about that job, the only time that I could kind of work from home was during snowstorm or when I was not feeling well.
After I left that work and became an entrepreneur, I have been working from home for about a decade now. While I do not want to sound arrogant and believe in the whole 'never say never' thing, I really hope that I never have to go to work in an office again. I simply cannot imagine wasting time driving to and fro from work, getting dressed up formally (unlike the impression people have of work at home types in their PJ's, I follow a fairly strict routine of morning workouts, breakfast, dressing up in shirts and jeans, and working all day except for lunch and coffee break in the afternoon), and then spending even more time and money on car repairs, maintaining of wardrobe, and having less energy overall due to the commute.
That is why it was disappointing to read that Yahoo is now forcing its employees to stop tele-commuting. We all know that Yahoo is in deep trouble and if it goes out of business, no one would be surprised, but it is laughable that the company is blaming its trouble on employees not coming to work in an office. The company memo said, "...communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together."
Indeed, it is important to have that interaction but in 2013 when there is greater push to collaborate online, it seems like a step back for Yahoo to do this. In fact they should have tried to develop technology to make working from anywhere even more effective. And yeah, human interaction is important, but that could have been accomplished by just one day when everyone could be in the office. I am expecting that the good Yahoos will simple leave this dead-end company.