Yahoo’s New Employee Policy – Thumbs Up or Down?

Posted by random olio

What do you think of Yahoo’s policy of no longer allowing employees to work from home? I am a bit shocked. I worked from home for over eight years and, I can tell you, I was way more productive than I would have ever been if I was in the office. I will tell you why:

Fewer distractions. I was able to focus on what I needed to accomplish, be dialed into conference calls and meetings as needed, and have the quiet space for the true work I needed to do each day.
No wasted meetings. If I was on a conference call, and the part of the call had nothing to do with my job, I could put my phone on mute and handle other work. When the meeting focus came to my area, I could unmute my phone and participate. That is hard, if nearly impossible, to do when you are in the office.
No time wasted traveling to and from work. I worked longer hours when I worked from home. I also had more “me” time, felt more focused, did not have to waste time on what to wear that day, commuting, going out to lunch. In the end, I was more focused by having my dedicated office space at home.

Working from home is not for everyone. As someone who worked from home and managed a team of employees who also worked from home, there is a respect and privilege that comes from working from home. It means that you do not abuse the unique opportunity for others. I always looked at what I and my team were able to do as trendsetting for the future. If we could make it work, it could mean that others in the future might have the option for a similar opportunity. It also means that the manager has to be aware of what it is like for that at-home worker, and they have to manage differently than you would in the office. You do not have the face-time you have in the office, so you have to be creative in order to connect with employees in different ways.

Based on the experience I had, it shocks me that a company that has already been receiving a bit of a bad rap in the news lately would go backwards in time to not allow employees to work from home. It feels like a decision based on fear. Rather than trusting employees and setting up a system of accountability, it seems like they are removing that trust and bringing everyone back into the office. It is like not trusting your kids to drive on their own when they get a license. Eventually, they have to make their own mistakes and learn from them.

An interesting side note: In the article I linked to above, it says that Mayer (CEO of Yahoo) has built a nursery in her office. Seriously? That will not bode well from a PR perspective. Consumers and customers will roll their eyes and find that just maybe this is all a double standard.

What do you think?

Work In The Office or At Home?

Posted by random olio

Working environments. A friend recently shared this article from The Christian Science Monitor called: “Why America loves its office culture.” After graduating from college I worked in an office, then we moved to Portland and I worked from home for nearly a decade. I am now working in an office again. Which do I prefer?

I like both options. Working from home I would roll out of bed in my pajamas, make tea, and rev up the laptop to start my day. I always wanted to get up and do all these things before I started my day, but for some reason I was like a magnet to my laptop. I found my mornings were usually those of the liquid diets. After my tea, I had a green smoothie, and after that coffee. By then it was lunch time. I have to say I was VERY productive working from home. Which is interesting because this article just came out from Fast Company titled: “Working From Home Makes You More Productive.” There are some interesting statistics in the article that companies should look at to see if telecommuting should be an option for employees when possible.

Now I am up at 5:30/6:00 am and have my green smoothie, post my blog, check emails, and shower and am off to work. I like my morning routine. I am not sure why it was so hard to get up and have my own “personal time” routine when I worked from home. I guess it was easier to roll over and close my eyes again and again since I did not have to worry about traffic. Or, a shower.

That is my morning routine. You care right? So what I loved about working from home was how much I was able to get done. I was never one to do home stuff or watch television. Everyone always asked how I was able to stay focused. I always had so much to do that I never had time to think about distractions from home. I loved the quiet and the focus I could have in my own space. But. Yes, there is a but. I missed being around people. Sure I would often be on conference calls all day long, but it is just not the same.

Now that I am back in an office I love the interaction and face-to-face time with other people. I love the people I work with, everyone is so interesting, intelligent, and I learn so much from them every day. The hardest part for me is since part of my job involves writing, it is at times hard to find the quiet mental space to write as I was more easily able to do when I worked from home. It is a balancing act in the fast paced world of the office.

Both have its pros and cons. Many people also have the best of both worlds. Some have days in the office, and days at home.

What is your preference?

Working Out While Working

Posted by random olio

What is the first thing you do when you come home from work? What do you do to decompress from the work day? I usually like to check in with my husband about his day and tell him things about my day. Then, I try to immediately go for my daily run. I can be completely exhausted mentally and physically and 99% of the time if I go for a run I get rejuvenated and can accomplish much more for the rest of my evening.

In my last job I worked from home and often felt like I needed to run double the amount because I was constantly on my laptop or on the phone and I wished I had the option to move around more during my day. I often felt tethered to my laptop. Fast forward to this article I read recently about a treadmill desk. If I had one of these when I was working from home, I could see myself working away, and run/walk at a slower than normal pace for a longer period of time to have the option to move while working. I think a lot of people (if you can handle the treadmill) would appreciate this type of multi-tasking. It would also mean that a lot of us are staying fit while juggling a lot of other responsibilities.

It is massive and not the most attractive of machines, but to me the ROI could be high. To think that maybe on those crazy days when you do not have time for a workout, but you are listening in on a conference call, or you need to read over proposals and the like that you could have stay fit in the process. It sounds like a win-win situation to me!

TGIF!! I am so very excited for the weekend and for time to rest and recoup from a full week. Have a wonderful weekend!