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Marissa Mayer's Email Promising To Make Yahoo 'The Absolute Best Place To Work'

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Re: Marissa Mayer's Email Promising To Make Yahoo 'The Absolute Best Place To Work'

#41

Post by rdl »

justincormack wrote: post #38
rdl wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like the "we'll provide free food onsite, and if you go out to lunch with anyone, we'll pay for that too (but keep it reasonable)" -- encouraging employees go to out to lunch together, or to have lunch with people from other companies, or potential customers, or hires, or whatever, seems worth the cost of lunch. You may or may not be able to deduct the cost of the meals (depending on who they're with), and o…

What a hassle. Just pay more.

Basically all good engineers I've talked to at places with free food onsite value it at at least cost, and often at >>1x cost. Encouraging people to go be social at lunch itself (and not to eat at their desks, at least not every day) is a win for retention. Check the zillion times this has come up on HN.

Not offering free food will hurt in recruiting a lot more than the cost, even if you moved $1 in food costs directly into salary.

I mean, if even Yahoo! eventually figures it out, it is probably true.

Re: Marissa Mayer's Email Promising To Make Yahoo 'The Absolute Best Place To Work'

#42

Post by guelo »

greenyoda wrote: post #6
taskstrike wrote: post #2

Some things they mention should be done at every tech company: 1. Give employees free lunch 2. Give every employee an iphone 3. Github for code review

Actually, I wouldn't be terribly happy if my company gave me a daily free lunch. It would be a disincentive to get out of the office and away from my co-workers once a day, which is something that I think makes me happier and more productive. (I work in a big city, where diverse types of food are a short walk away. If you work in an office park in Silicon Valley, I can see why a free lunch might be more appealing.) A…

Not only that, when IT departments start thinking about company owned phones they start thinking about securing important data so they start locking things down and it would be bad if some sexual harrasment was being done with company property so they need some monitoring and filtering and on and on and down the rabbit hole it goes.

Re: Marissa Mayer's Email Promising To Make Yahoo 'The Absolute Best Place To Work'

#43

Post by wamatt »

joshAg wrote: post #30
wamatt wrote: post #28

The perks are certainly nice and likely a good move all things considered, but at some point she is going to have to inspire and innovate. A "Google-like office", without a seriously great product, will probably be tough sell, longterm.

Based on the things that came out of google labs, I think it's more than possible that a seriously great product can be a byproduct of a google-type office and not just a prerequisite for said office environment.

It's possible I guess, but in the case of Google Labs, perhaps the more significant factor is the raw amount of talent/ability, per square foot. :p

Re: Marissa Mayer's Email Promising To Make Yahoo 'The Absolute Best Place To Work'

#44

Post by zem »

wamatt wrote: post #43
joshAg wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on the things that came out of google labs, I think it's more than possible that a seriously great product can be a byproduct of a google-type office and not just a prerequisite for said office environment.

It's possible I guess, but in the case of Google Labs, perhaps the more significant factor is the raw amount of talent/ability, per square foot. :p

i've known several ex-yahoo people. they all agree that yahoo has no shortage of raw engineering talent in the trenches; it's just that they aren't given the environment they need to get things done. hopefully mayer will change that.

Re: Marissa Mayer's Email Promising To Make Yahoo 'The Absolute Best Place To Work'

#45

Post by EnderMB »

taskstrike wrote: post #2

Some things they mention should be done at every tech company: 1. Give employees free lunch 2. Give every employee an iphone 3. Github for code review

The best thing about a free lunch isn't necessarily that you'll be eating nice food (hopefully) and saving a bit of money. It's that it forces you to ditch your machine or your ritual and to spend some non-work time with your work colleagues.

As a regular desk-eater (like many I assume) you definitely miss that aspect in favour of getting a bit more work done.

Re: Marissa Mayer's Email Promising To Make Yahoo 'The Absolute Best Place To Work'

#46

Post by hcal »

yuhong wrote: post #9
greenyoda wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not every CEO has to be a visionary. If the CEO can hire good people who have good ideas and get out of their way, she doesn't have to provide all the ideas herself. But she'd need to create an environment where good ideas can be born and come to fruition. Giving people free food won't do this. You'd need to set up a culture in which good ideas actually get rewarded and people aren't afraid to fail.

I hope modern MBA courses teaches things like this.

They do! Modern MBA programs focus heavily on a concept called servant leadership. It can get surprisingly in-depth, but on the surface its a simple idea that can be summed up in two steps. First, hire good people. Second, provide the support they need to do their job.

Modern management models have tended to move away from issuing rules and directives. These days its more about designing jobs from which the employee can derive some self-satisfaction and than providing business context so employees can self-direct toward the company's goals.

Re: Marissa Mayer's Email Promising To Make Yahoo 'The Absolute Best Place To Work'

#47

Post by quesera »

jyap wrote: post #40

Yahoo! is in crisis mode and I think Marissa is making the right moves. If what she says inspires current employees and keeps talent then it is all worth while. Now the pessimist could see Yahoo! as a dying company/stock. Apple was in the same position before Steve Jobs came back. Yahoo! could possible die a slow death or this could mark the start of a recovery. Marissa understands it begins with products and to have…

This is clearly the Hail Mary for Yahoo. I give the board a ton of credit for having the gumption, though I realize they tried every other permutation of crisis reaction first.

And they couldn't have chosen anyone more appropriate for the strategy than Marissa Mayer. I have no use for Yahoo in my life, but I'm really rooting for her and them, and I hope they change my mind.

You raise an interesting point about stock. It defies all logic to believe that Marissa could achieve what Steve Jobs did. But that doesn't mean it isn't worth a small bet.

Re: Marissa Mayer's Email Promising To Make Yahoo 'The Absolute Best Place To Work'

#48

Post by quesera »

wyclif wrote: post #3

This is adorably cute, but Yahoo! won't be a great place to work until they begin creating great products again.

I think it works both ways -- neither will Yahoo create great products until they become a great place to work, again.

This is why I think Mayer was a great choice. If you're at Yahoo and disillusioned, or considering an offer and on the fence...you have to latch on to something representing change. Marissa wasn't the only possible choice, but she was at least as good as any other imaginable choices.

Now I'm making her sound like Obama. I'm much more comfortable with that conflation than the Steve Jobs one though.

Oh, and sorry about the motherhood pun. I didn't even notice it til the reread.

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