So the message is now clear- ending telecommuting is something failing companies do.
To me its more clear that these companies have pretty clueless managers that have no idea if their people are working or not.
Best Buy ends work-from-home program
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Re: Best Buy ends work-from-home program
#22| "In the context of a business transformation, it | makes sense to consider not just what the results | are but how the work gets done," Furman said. | "It's 'all hands on deck' at Best Buy, and that | means having employees in the office as much as | possible to collaborate and connect on ways to | improve our business 1. The "all hands on deck" thing is a bit over the top. It makes it sound like he thinks that peo…
I believe the fundamental problem that these companies face is that they've grown so big and complex that many fiefdoms have developed. There are isolated teams within the larger organization. Frankly, it doesn't matter if the teams are in the office or working from home. The Real Problem (TM) that they're facing is that they've forgotten how to innovate, communicate internally, and be agile at scale. They want a qui…
>>The Real Problem (TM)
It is really getting annoying to see the TM sign in every other phrase now. It doesn't make anybody look clever so please guys stop it.
Re: Best Buy ends work-from-home program
#23So the message is now clear- ending telecommuting is something failing companies do.
To me its more clear that these companies have pretty clueless managers that have no idea if their people are working or not.
Failing companies usually have managers who can't tell if their workers are being productive or not?
Re: Best Buy ends work-from-home program
#24i don't understand what type of work gets done at home when one works for a retail company like best buy.
when i think of best buy, i think of people in blue shirts trying to sell me the latest widget. if i think harder, i can imagine people who have to get stuff on the store shelves and maybe managers who have to create reports or something.
what type of jobs are actually "work from home" jobs at retail stores?
Re: Best Buy ends work-from-home program
#25i don't understand what type of work gets done at home when one works for a retail company like best buy. when i think of best buy, i think of people in blue shirts trying to sell me the latest widget. if i think harder, i can imagine people who have to get stuff on the store shelves and maybe managers who have to create reports or something. what type of jobs are actually "work from home" jobs at retail stores?
Are you really that retarded? Payroll, HR, finance, the website, tech support for in-store systems, planning for growth, product selection, manufacture liaison, operations planning for distribution, legal...
Or are you under the impression that Best Buy stores appear out of nowhere, with stock selected and shipped from nowhere with no planning, with staff recruited and paid by nobody, no legal support, no tech support, and with some random blue-shirts making the website on their lunch hour?
Re: Best Buy ends work-from-home program
#26So the message is now clear- ending telecommuting is something failing companies do.
Yahoo stock is up from $15 under Scott Thompson to almost $23 with Mayer, so not sure what point you're trying to make. Please, since you are so familiar with the ins and outs of Yahoo, what would you have done differently?
not that.
Re: Best Buy ends work-from-home program
#27| "In the context of a business transformation, it | makes sense to consider not just what the results | are but how the work gets done," Furman said. | "It's 'all hands on deck' at Best Buy, and that | means having employees in the office as much as | possible to collaborate and connect on ways to | improve our business 1. The "all hands on deck" thing is a bit over the top. It makes it sound like he thinks that peo…
At the micro level, I have seen many teams pull everyone in to the same physical location when faced with a sprint or deadline. It doesn't strike me as inherently illogical, and is a strategy that IME has yielded results. What yahoo and BB are doing is essentially this, but at scale. They are both companies under significant duress and pressure and are attempting to rally the troops. While it remains to be seen wheth…
I have no opinion one way or another about either Yahoo or Best Buy, but in my experience (when I've seen these sorts of things go down in person at previous companies) once a company starts down the path of emergency policy changes to right the ship, the death spiral is more or less irreversible. The top employees are already either out the door or actively looking for their next gig, and in a couple of months the ranks will be down to primarily people who can't easily find more stable jobs elsewhere.
This is in large part the fault of the corporations themselves who over the past 20 odd years have mostly destroyed the idea of companyemployee long-term loyalty, particularly when it comes to companies larger than a couple of hundred people.
Re: Best Buy ends work-from-home program
#28Marissa Mayer might be a trendsetter. Just one week after the Yahoo CEO banned telecommuting at her company, Best Buy is ending its own flexible work program. Well, one insightful HN'er, christopheraden, sorta called this[1], back in one of the earlier threads[2] on the Yahoo decision. Unfortunately it looks like people might just be following Mayer's lead here (even though she hasn't exactly "turned Yahoo around" ju…
It's just for dying companies. Yahoo and Best Buy are facing life and death changes. It makes sense to go into full panic mode. Maybe they'll come back, if they get small enough, maybe they'll be nimble enough to make some cash. Finding the really loyal employees is probably a good move. Scaling back benefits is a good way to do that.
The best part is how you keep seeing the "Marissa Mayer is a genius because the remote workers who aren't performing will quit". No, the best ones will quit. The ones who can't get jobs elsewhere immediately will be the ones most likely to stay.
Re: Best Buy ends work-from-home program
#29So the message is now clear- ending telecommuting is something failing companies do.
Yahoo stock is up from $15 under Scott Thompson to almost $23 with Mayer, so not sure what point you're trying to make. Please, since you are so familiar with the ins and outs of Yahoo, what would you have done differently?
I'm sorry, but are you implying that stock price has anything to do with how well the company is doing? Because it doesn't.
Re: Best Buy ends work-from-home program
#30Telecommuting is here to stay and it will only become more common as old-school managers who don't understand technology retire/die off are replaced by young workers who grew up with technology.