Emma G Keller at The Guardian:
Now she wants more of their time – for free. Her decision is a costly one, whatever the payoff in cafeteria chat and brainstorming on the bus. Will she underwrite the commuting time and expense? Will there be a gas allowance? Parking? Will employees have their own desks? That's expensive real estate right there. Whatever flexibility Yahoo employees previously enjoyed will completely vanish, as this patronizing line in the memo points out.
This is just one of the things that I found crazy about her article. I wrote a response to her. It is probably buried by now among all of the other comments here is my opinion of her article.
Your piece is severely out of touch about what most of society has to do to have a career. Yes there is a rise in the amount of people who are working from home, however it is still a small percentage.
“Now she wants more of their time – for free. Her decision is a costly one, whatever the payoff in cafeteria chat and brainstorming on the bus. Will she underwrite the commuting time and expense? Will there be a gas allowance? Parking? Will employees have their own desks? That's expensive real estate right there.”
The opening statement of that quote is absolutely ridiculous. She is making people actually come into work and collaborate to make the company stronger, how dare she. Sorry that you can’t go run out and grab groceries at 10:00 in the morning just because you caught up on a couple of things. Most people are not so privileged. A gas allowance? You are joking right? People have always had to fund their own expenses to and from work. If you know of a place that gives out this benefit, do tell! Yahoo has been around for a long time, so I am sure that they have parking, and desks.
“OK, so none of us has to stay at home for the cable guy in an era of 4G, municipal wifi, FIOS and satellite TV. So that was a clunky and weirdly out-of-date detail from an up-to-the-minute tech company.”
Another bizarre statement. Everyone has to stay at home at one point or another for the “cable guy” which is a blanket statement for the FIOS man (which FIOS is not available everywhere, and won’t be either since they decided to stop building the network out), and that covers the satellite man as well. If there is a problem or you are setting up a new service you have to wait the dreaded oh we will be there when we get there wait. Municipal Wifi, what a novel concept. The U.S. has failed severely in making this option a widespread option for people.
“There is absolutely no concession made for those with families. Yes, I know this is unsurprising from a woman who skipped her own maternity leave. But forget the expense of finding childcare to cover this new work situation, what happens when someone gets – you know – sick?”
I really would like to know what planet you are from? People have been doing this very thing for years. It is an expense that is expected when you plan to have kids. Unless one person can support the whole family than you have to find someone who is willing to watch your child, and you have to pay them for their services. If someone gets sick than you have to call work and say I am sorry, but my child is sick and I have to take care of them. I will make up whatever work I am missing throughout the week, or take a vacation day.
Marissa Mayer is doing great things for Yahoo, and this piece is nothing but a slanderous article with a catchy headline to bring in page views. Yes I came to it and read it, but I came to it out of utter confusion. I have taken notice of how Yahoo is improving since she has taken over so I wanted to see if I was mistaken on whether or not I should like her. After reading your article I have learned of nothing that makes me like her less. Good for her, for actually running her company and trying to make it the best that it can be.