We’ve heard a lot in the press recently about Yahoo’s CEO eliminating the work from home policy that has long been a part of the corporate culture. Moves like this harken back to old assumptions about the workplace and the importance of place over space. The idea that the work to provide Yahoo’s core product, which is services based, can only be done in a particular physical location is at best quaint.
These kinds of changes also create challenges to employee engagement, sending messages that employees aren’t to be trusted, that everyone needs to conform to a standard version of work, and that connections can only happen in a physical container known as “the office”. Current thinking on engagement and the value of it would suggest that Yahoo can expect to see a decline in productivity, moral, and retention as a result.
I read that this move by Yahoo could be a test of commitment, i.e., “if you really want to work here, then you will buy into this new culture.” The new culture values in-person interaction and collaboration. Yahoo aside, if organizational members value place over space, why should outsiders fault them? I recall Dr. Swartz at CU Boulder describing a trend in Europe where more smaller companies were asking employees to come to the office from 9 to 5. No email was allowed to be sent or responded to outside of these time. A commitment to place actually improved work-life balance for these employees. Of course, it depends on the composition of the organization… folks who need to pick up kids from school, etc., can’t really do 9 to 5, but for those who can and want to, a focus on the work “place” could actually be healthy.
I agree, there is power in shared space – it provides opportunity for collaboration, creativity, and engagement with peers. But many office spaces are actually just a relocation of a desk in a cube, isolated on a floor somewhere. If you want people to choose to come to work, because not being there feels like a loss of connection, productivity, or opportunity, I think you have to be attentitve to the space itself and make it compelling – maybe it shouldn’t take strict rules to get people to the office and focused on their work? Especially if your work is as interesting as what Yahoo’s could be?