I worked from home as a freelancer for several years until one of my clients insisted that I spend a full, regular work-day at their office at least once a week. When I did that I discovered that I was far more productive, even if the space they gave me was noisier.
I'm a lot different from others, though, in that I'm not only easily distracted, I also have chronic problems with motivation. I.e.: when I'm at home I'm a slacker, and when I'm at an office I'm not (or not _as much_).
After a few weeks of this I began offering to spend full days, once a week, at some of my other clients, and observed a boost in productivity there, too.
I know of some work-at-home freelancers who have set aside a room in their home that they treat quite strictly as their office, even dressing in a suit and tie every morning and "commuting" from their bedroom down the stairs or across the hall. They find that it helps them get into the right mindset so they can more easily suppress the temptation to knock-off for a few minutes and watch TV, or play with the cat, or whatever.
Meyer might be doing something slightly different, though, which is that she needs to get Yahoo! onto a new track. This must be accomplished psychologically as well as technically and logistically, and I know many companies have tried a variety of tricks to get their employees to think differently, shift into a different mindset. Changing decor, company colors, cubicles-to-open-space or vice-versa, different dress codes, and so-on.
This might be a permanent thing at Yahoo!, or maybe they will begin slowly re-introducing work-at-home. A kind of reverse if what I did, perhaps: one day a week, or month, while keeping tabs on how the employee's performance differs. Some may perform better, some (like me) might not have the discipline.