Will people be what
they when there is none to supervise ? – are controls required ??
In olden days, discipline was
of utmost importance more than performance. Somewhere in the recent past,
things changed. Until a few decades ago, people came to office in time [that
was the basic expectation] and stayed in office for long hours……. ~ then came
the culture known as ‘flexi-time’ and ….. ‘work from home’ [luxuries not
enjoyed by all companies, only by a elite few…. Especially IT & ITES
sector]……….. known as telecommuting.
Telecommuting workers revel in making their own schedule -- allowing
them to schedule work around family and personal commitments. With the ready
availability of technology tools, like the Internet and home computers,
companies have been more willing to let employees work from home.
Technology is no
doubt a boon and as is with any technology whether it is a boon or bane depends
on the user and the way it is put to use.
Telecommuting sure would reduce the hours of travel and travails of
travel; might also cut costs in some
manner – but whether productivity is guaranteed depends…. !!
Sure, you know and use
‘Yahoo’........ an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in
Sunnyvale , California
Marissa Ann Mayer was a
long-time executive and key spokesperson for Google. She is the youngest CEO of
a Fortune 500 company, and has been ranked number 14 on the list of America
Some even call it a great leap
backwards. Banning ‘telecommuting’ perhaps none thought would ever occur……..
that too from an IT Company. According to a Reuters poll, approximately
"one in five workers around the globe, particularly employees in the
Middle East, Latin America and Asia ,
telecommute frequently and nearly 10 percent work from home every day".
The memo of HR chief Jackie
Reses described as infamous reportedly states that “Speed and quality are often
sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts
with physically being together,” in her now infamous memo, “Beginning in June,
we’re asking all employees with work-from-home arrangements to work in Yahoo!
offices. If this impacts you, your management has already been in touch with
next steps. And, for the rest of us who occasionally have to stay home for the
cable guy, please use your best judgment in the spirit of collaboration.” Even
that rare day that you may want to work from home — because of the cable guy or
a sick child — will now be scrutinised by management.
The growing intolerance of
telecommuting is not unique to Yahoo!. Google, for example, isn’t big on
working from home, as its CFO Patrick Pichette recently was quoted as saying
that there is something magical about
sharing meals. There is something magical about spending the time together,
about noodling on ideas, about asking at the computer ‘What do you think of
this?’
To those who cannot digest the
idea itself, Mayer’s decision sparked a firestorm that it smacked of top-down
dictatorialism, evoking the bygone image of the factory boss and his
time cards, making sure each of his workers punches in the required hours. The
ban on telecommuting may seem old-fashioned in a wired age but when a company
thinks of controls, none have the priority to defy that. Expecting one’s workforce to devote the
required hours if not greater hours is a fair expectation but the initial
reaction is that it is wrong and would undermine the morale of the skill
force.
Marissa Mayer for sure has
stirred a hornet’s nest ~ whether for the employee or for the Company, only
time will tell
With regards – S. Sampathkumar .
28th Feb 2013
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