Yahoo's work from home ban has a purpose

Last week Marissa Mayer banned working from home at Yahoo. Journalists have taken talked about how Mayer used VPN data to see whether people were working or not. I believe that is irrelevant and only the way to do what she had to do to get company on track.

My guess is that Yahoo had grown to be a company full of workers not motivated enough to really make changes. I believe there has been too many workers not committed to make their best. Now Marissa Mayer have given a message to the company: "be committed to a common goal or please leave".

Other possibility Marissa Mayer had was to lay off people. Bad thing about laying off people is that, some of the good guys will go with the flush and some of the bad ones will still remain. Now the ones who want to slack, can leave to another company. And them who really want to take part to the future of Yahoo will stay.

Quote from claimed Yahoo's leaked memo

I believe what Marissa Mayer did is a part of greater plan to get the company back on track. I want to believe it's not really about working from home, but it is about the situation at Yahoo and what had to be done.

I know I would have been pissed off by the announcement Marissa Mayer had to do. I know I wouldn't currently, with two small kids, work in a company that wouldn't allow working from home. And to be exact, Yahoo's announcement didn't fully ban working from home, but banned the agreements that people would work from home. Occasional working from home would be allowed, with "best judgement".

It's easy to analyse the situation outside and either judge or agree with Mayer's decision. We do not know the truth behind the situation. At least Mayer has made a bold move on something that is not within the standards in the industry. Now we'll wait for the consequences in the future.

Written by +Henri Hämäläinen