Issue of the week: Yahoo’s ban on working from home

There’s a “painful irony” in Yahoo’s decision to make all its employees come to the office to work.

There’s a “painful irony” in Yahoo’s decision to make all its employees come to the office to work, said Jena McGregor in The Washington Post. Why would a Silicon Valley tech company “that touts its mobile strategy” issue a retrograde edict against telecommuting? “Such a policy could very well hurt Yahoo’s chances at recruiting the most talented young developers,” engineers, and executives. Some of them won’t want to move to within commuting distance of a Yahoo office, and many have embraced “the now widely accepted idea that working from home, say, once a week, can help clear away the distractions.” If tech companies really “live and die by talent,” as Yahoo’s celebrated CEO Marissa Mayer has said, “she better hope Yahoo’s best and brightest aren’t too wedded to working from home.”

“I had hope for Marissa Mayer,” said Lisa Belkin in HuffingtonPost.com. I thought that as a new mother, she would “use her platform and her power to make Yahoo an example of a modern family-friendly workplace.” But rather than championing a balance of life and work, she’s “calling for an enforced and antiquated division.” A case-by-case telecommuting approach that identifies flexible positions and trusts managers to sort out the details “makes far more sense than a blanket ban.” This crackdown on choice isn’t just a blow to employees who need flexibility to take care of kids or aging parents—it’s a warning for everyone “that their lives don’t matter.”

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