Case Study – Pros and Cons of Telecommuting
Discussion Questions
- 8-21. What are the collaborative technologies that a company like Yahoo! would have to provide to create an effective telecommuting program? How would Yahoo! increase media richness using these technologies?
- 8-22. In spite of the controversy about CEO Mayer’s decision to ban telecommuting, she raises valid points that might affect Yahoo!’s profitability. How could each of her concerns be overcome by providing improved collaborative technologies? Which of Mayer’s issues would be insurmountable, if any?
- 8-23. Describe at least three human behavior challenges with telecommuting and explain what a company like Yahoo! would have to do to overcome each of them.
- 8-24. Suppose that you become highly skilled with collaboration technologies and are a seasoned telecommuter. How would this affect your career? How would you represent these competencies and experiences to Yahoo!?
Use the questions above to answer ONLY ONE of the following topics below
- Pg. 224: Cracking Fraud with Government’s Big Data.
- Pg. 225: TV and Twitter: How Nelsen Rates Programs with “Social TV”.
- Pg. 254: Telepresence Robots Support Remote Collaboration.
- Pg. 255: The Pros and Cons of Telecommuting
- Pg. 289: Lynda.com
- Pg. 290: Diplopedia: Managing State Department Knowledge with a Wiki.
Case Study #2 The Pros and Cons of Telecommuting
With gas prices soaring and traffic congestion stealing hours from every commuter’s day, organizations around the world have eagerly embraced collaborative technologies and the virtual workplace. Millions of people work at home at least one day a week, and the number continues to climb.
Bucking this trend, Yahoo! decided in 2013 that employees could no longer work from home. Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer’s decision was accidentally leaked out through a memo signed by Yahoo’s human resources director. The memo stated, “Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together…”
The policy change at Yahoo! triggered howls of protest from employees, and a firestorm erupted on social media. Twitter lit up with comments such as “Hey Marissa, 1980 just called, they want their work environment back!” and “#Yahoo kills work flexibility and #telework options for employees. CEO is convinced it is still 1994.”
Nevertheless, other companies followed suit by reining in telecommuting options, including Best Buy and Hewlett Packard. Some federal agencies are also redoing telework policies to reduce the number of employees working outside the office.
Telecommuting “Pros”
Employees overwhelmingly support telework for its flexibility, and studies often find that workers are more productive when they are allowed to work from home. The virtual workplace benefits the employee, company, and community as well. For example, employees save as much as $1,700 per year in gasoline and other car expenses, and they add many hours to their days by eliminating commutes. Expenses for clothing, restaurant lunches, parking fees, and tolls also drop. Virtual workers enjoy greater flexibility to balance work and personal lives, which appears to reduce both stress and health problems. Dealing with child and elder care responsibilities is simplified, and disabled workers also benefit.
The company benefits by reducing real estate costs. And with less traffic on the roads, communities’ benefit by reducing congestion, pollution, accidents, and highway maintenance expenses. Among Fortune magazine’s best companies to work for, several in the top 10 feature generous telework policies, including Cisco and Intel. Telework is also a helpful policy to recruit and retain top talent.
Telecommuting “Cons”
Despite the many benefits, research shows that telecommuting can have some serious disadvantages, particularly for high-tech companies that rely on innovation and collaboration. Twitter and Google, for instance, have no specific policy about it, but senior administrators encourage people to work at the office as much as possible to promote face-to-face collaboration. Casual, unscheduled meetings take place more freely, involving people from different departments, and that can break down barriers and spur innovation.
More face-to-face contact can also increase the speed of decision making. For example, an “open office” layout can lead to faster decision making because employees can just meet to work out the details rather than waste time with voice mail or email.
Employees who telecommute most or all of the time may also suffer setbacks in their careers compared with those who work on-site, and they may also experience lower job satisfaction because of the professional isolation. Some studies have found that telecommuters are less likely to be promoted, even if their productivity is high. Just being seen at work makes people think you’re a hard worker.
Time will tell how Yahoo! fares in the future, but the decision certainly triggered heated debates about what it means to collaborate in a 21st century workplace.