Yahoo's CEO Says Killing Telecommuting is Working Just Fine

Marissa Mayer made a few notable changes when she took on the role of Yahoo's CEO, one which got her quite a bit of heat. The company put a stop to remote working, requiring all employees to work from the company's offices. This, she says, is working out perfectly fine. Apparently, the company has seen an increase in both engagement and productivity.

Steve Hargis spent six months advising Yahoo on the overhaul of their headquarters in Sunnyvale, and authored a report on the company's changes.

"Most of the campus is still the old-style cubicles,” he notes, adding that several floors of Yahoo's headquarters have been re-imagined with standing desks and scrum boards. “The difference between the two is so visible it’s become a marketing tool."

It has also been noted that Yahoo's stock price has almost doubled since the beginning of the year, when Mayer made the changes.

Interestingly enough, scientist Ben Waber, author of People Analytics, says that programmers have a dependency to each other. They need to work in close teams to ensure their code works together. According to this research, programmers are 8% less likely to communicate about dependencies than co-located groups, which means it takes them 32% longer to complete codes. “For Yahoo, then, this means their workforce becomes about 3% more effective with the stroke of a pen."

Do you prefer to work from an office or remotely?