Yahoo Chief Bans Working From Home
In the article Yahoo Chief Bans Working from Home, which was published on February 26, 2013 in The New York Times, the authors Claire Cain Miller and Catherine Rampell (2013) reported about the announcement made by CEO Marissa Mayer with regards to the banning of work-from-home arrangements in Yahoo. The authors described how such an announcement was met with criticisms from both Yahoo employees and from experts in the industry. However, despite the uproar, Mayer stands firm in her decision as she believes that having the employees physically present in the office will yield better results for the company, which Mayer is trying to revive. Some also considered this as a move by Mayer to change the organizational culture of Yahoo and make it more similar to that of Google from which she came.
Communication plays an important role in the events reported in this article. Firstly, memos were the method of communication used by the organization for disseminating the information to its employees. Moreover, the organization’s spokeswoman is in charge with communicating with the press and with addressing questions from the public.
More importantly, however, the importance of communication is stressed in the implications of Mayer’s new rule on banning work-from-home arrangements. In particular, she created this mandate because she believed that face-to-face interactions will enable employees to communicate better and work in a more collaborative fashion. This supported by John Sullivan, a San Francisco State University professor, who claimed that while work-from-home arrangements increased employee productivity, it is face-to-face interactions that foster innovation (Miller & Rampell, 2013).
With face-to-face interactions, the communication process can be completed faster; the amount of noise will be reduced; the communication becomes more personal; and it enables non-verbal communication cues to be conveyed. Moreover, with face-to-face interactions, it is possible to employ active listening, which leads to better communication.
References
Miller, C. C. & Rampell, C. (2013, February 26). Yahoo chief bans working from home. The
New York Times. Retrieved from http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/yahoo-chief-
bans-working-from-home-335493.
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