"No more working from home for Yahoo" heavily criticized on the Internet

Source: Daily Trojan

Nowadays, working from home has become a worlwide trend. Many employees have left their office for the warmth of their home, with the workforce adapting to a new situation. For the employers it was a matter of saving space. For the employee it was a matter of saving time (avoiding the routine of going and leaving work). However, Yahoo! seems to have a differet view on the benefits of working from home.

Although they did encourage the trend, they suddenly have changed their mind, asking their employers to return to the office. They believe that proper communication and collaboration is better achieved when working at the same environment, which is their primary goal from now on. 

In their own words: "Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home."

Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home - See more at: http://allthingsd.com/20130222/physically-together-heres-the-internal-yahoo-no-work-from-home-memo-which-extends-beyond-remote-workers/#sthash.KcQ3DoLt.dpuf

Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home - See more at: http://allthingsd.com/20130222/physically-together-heres-the-internal-yahoo-no-work-from-home-memo-which-extends-beyond-remote-workers/#sthash.KcQ3DoLt.dpuf

Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home - See more at: http://allthingsd.com/20130222/physically-together-heres-the-internal-yahoo-no-work-from-home-memo-which-extends-beyond-remote-workers/#sthash.KcQ3DoLt.dpuf"

Although working from the office could indeed enhance collaboration in some cases, I cannot agree with their whole thinking. For such a large company, "imposing" such a decision would surely not enhance communication and team spirit, since it doesn't provide an alternative option to the employers. What's more, Yahoo's opinion that "speed and quality are often sacrificed when working from home" is simply unrealistic. You can't tell as a general conclusion that remote working is not productive, since it works in different circumstances for everyone. What's more, such a statement does not sound good for all their employees that worked from home, since they are told that they were slow and without the desired quality.

Working from home might have its own disadvantages, but this doesn't mean that it's a case that we should abandon in general. Yahoo's decision was discussed extensively during the last week and definitely not in a good way. With so many people working from home, did they think this could lead to good publicity?