In 2013 when a leaked memo surfaced that Yahoo’s CEO, Marissa Mayer had directed one of the company’s HR executive to initiate a ban on the ‘work from home’ policy, the tech world went berserk. Several people within the tech industry are used to the flexible policy of working from home and so, it came as no surprise that the news was met with a heavy dose of resentment and bloggers galore took to social media and posted blogs all venting their disagreement with Yahoo’s policy. Whether your company is for or against the working from home policy this practice is not going away, in fact, it is increasing in numbers by some well established companies.
An article titled Office ‘Hoteling’: ‘Some Companies Offer Reservations, but Some Workers Have Reservations’ by Amy Whyte for workforce.com it states in part;
“Though hoteling has been around for some time — Crain’s Chicago Business reported on IBM’s switch to a desk reservation system in 1994 — the trend has recently picked up steam. “Big Four” accounting firms Deloitte and EY, formerly Ernst & Young, are among companies that have adopted office hoteling in the past year. Instead of assigned desks, companies like American Express Co. are offering employees storage lockers to hold their files and supplies. Rather than being tethered to landlines, employees at GlaxoSmithKline carry laptops equipped with Internet phones.
Even the federal government has gotten in on the trend with the U.S. General Services Administration using hoteling as part of its efforts to reduce federal office space and increase efficiency and collaboration. Charles Hardy, the GSA’s chief workplace officer, said the hoteling model has enabled it to assign 3,400 people to its headquarters, a building that previously only housed 2,200.”
A flexible work policy that includes employees working from home is not for every company. Just imagine an outside sales rep that is required to drive 2 hours or more each day, 5 days a week to sit at a desk and make cold calls to prospective customers. A company may have valid reasons for having this rep drive in to work each day. Perhaps the sales rep is below her quota and, so by closely managing this person, she might yield the desired result. With the advancement of internet phones, a cloud-based customer relationship management software (CRM) for a rep to add his notes and communicating by e-mails his superior and colleagues all day long, why would any company ask a sale rep to drive in each day to make phone calls?
In conclusion, companies who, for various reasons believe employees are better managed in an office will most likely frown upon a flexible work from home policy. In contrast, other companies who do not want to be burdened with bricks and mortar costs and see the value in such a policy will embrace this modern way of working, albeit with employees who do not need to be tethered to a desk. If you happen to work for a company that do not believe in a flexible work from home policy and you decide to approach your superior about it, make sure you have all the facts to back up the reasons why you should work at home. Change takes time.
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