(For part of her decision, not the whole thing FYI.)
I’ve been sitting back a bit and watching opinions and drama fly regarding Marissa Meyers putting an end to working remotely for Yahoo. And I’ve been biting my tongue because I know what happened when I called Taylor Swift a name over on my Facebook wall…I got attacked. I was trying to steer clear of bringing drama over my way but whatev…bring it on. I’m entitled to my opinion, as is everyone else in the world. Unless, of course, you live in a country where you get stoned to death or thrown in jail for speaking your mind. But, I don’t. So onward and forward with my whole Freedom of Speech thing…
It’s been interesting, to say the least.
So many of my blogger friends are up in arms about Marissa Meyers decision. They are claiming it’s many steps backwards for women in the workplace and other variations on that theme. I’m not going to go into all the varying opinions, you can peruse your FB timeline and get the gist of what I’m talking about.
My opinion isn’t a popular one because I’m more on the Team Marissa side than not. Yeah, I am.
OK…my thoughts in fragments and short sentences:
I’ve been on a few interviews lately. Companies looking to hire Freelance writers or community managers. Every single one of the companies, pre-interview…I was asked if I had a problem with not working from home…REMOTELY. Say I interviewed with 5 LARGE companies, some of them strictly local to Detroit while others, satellite offices with the main HQ’s in other states. And out of the 5 companies I interviewed with, not a single one allows ANYONE to work remotely. Freelancers. Direct Hire. Man. Woman. Beast. It doesn’t matter. Your presence is required IN the office. Unless, of course, you want to not be hired. Then it’s like…thankyouverymuch, haveaniceday.
It’s all good.
At first I was like “What the what!” I mean, it’s online work. If I have Internet connection at home, what difference does it make where I work from? Social media, blogging, anything in the Digital world…why should it matter where you work from, as long as you are fabulous and get your work done in a timely manner?
Yeah. The companies want your fabulous and timely in their office. You can be your own fabulous and timely on your own fabulous time.
Many of the recruiters I’ve spoken with..don’t ask…have all mentioned to me that there are really VERY FEW (if any) companies looking to hire remote workers. But…they’ll let me know if any come their way. I haven’t heard back regarding those companies. But I’m not holding my breath and waiting around.
When you work remotely, you lose the working as a team thing. Yeah. You do. Sure, you can take conference calls, emails, Skype and all that good stuff.
It’s not the same as working directly WITH the group IN the office.
Personally, I think it’s wishful thinking to be able to work remotely. It’s great, in theory. And it’s fine when you freelance because it’s your personal business which you started from your home office.
The way I see it is, if you want “that” job bad enough, you’ll go buy yourself some new and appropriate outfits to wear in the office and suck it up. Otherwise, there are going to be a lot of job openings for people like…well…me. Because I can be just as fabulous IN the office as I can be from home.
Honestly, I don’t care where I work, as long as I’m doing what I love. So, if it means commuting every day…then so be it.
I mean, maybe I’m missing the bigger picture here. But, I really don’t think so. It’s really quite cut and dry.
As my friend Jennifer, who is a pretty big deal in the PR world says, put on your big girl pants and go to work.
I just don’t see how not being allowed to work remotely is even remotely a bad idea. Sure, it would be a perfect world if every company allowed it.
But it’s a far from perfect. And not nearly every company allows working from home. Not even close.
It’s got nothing to do with women’s lib or anti-feminism because it’s across the board. See list way above.
So you either play by the rules. Or you don’t.
You take a job that is nearly perfect for you, despite the fact that you can’t sit at the kitchen table in fuzzy pj bottoms nursing a pot of coffee. (Yeah, I work from home, I know all about it). Or, you can choose the other option, accept a job that is nearly perfect for you where you CAN sit at the table in fuzzy pj bottoms nursing a pot of coffee.
It’s just that simple.
OK…so just read this post by Amy at Freaky Perfect. She’s WAYYYYYY better at telling it they way it is. Because, while I agree with parts of her decision…there are aspects that affect the majority that she definitely didn’t take into account and if she did, she didn’t give a crap. BUT, with that being said, I still believe that if a company doesn’t want to hire telecommuters, they shouldn’t have to.
ps. I was just thinking about this: OK…I get it. Flex schedules have been working fine. So, I totally get that side of the argument too. I guess I understand both sides of this issue. I just understand why companies want their employees present. And that’s coming from someone who hires remote workers.
pps. and if i had little kids, i’d want a nursery next to my office too. or at least…a nursery for the building, to be a little more fair!!
Mrs. Weber says
I agree with you — it is so nice having that team RIGHT there to bounce ideas around, etc. I think it’s just upsetting that unfortunately that’s not what those Yahoo-ians signed up for. I know I would be very upset if my boss changed heart and said I needed to show up everyday. That’s not what I signed up for when I took the job.
I actually have seen quite a few jobs posted (in the PR world) that allow for telecommuting, or at least just 2 days in the office, the rest of the week flex-time from home. I think that would be the perfect work/life balance. I love working from home for the flexibility it offers me (and honestly I feel more productive because I would just be gossping at work otherwise I’m sure!), but I do miss the team environment at times.
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Liz says
I work at a company that has a program called “Work Your Way,” which has been super nice so far. If you’re a mom, for example, and you want to be home by 3 – then get here early, do your work, and leave at 2:45 or 2:30. Most people arrive at the office sometime between 8:30am-11am – I normally do 9:30 but today I had a dr. appt. so it was 10am – and they stay till 4-5:30. It works out nicely for everyone and everyone seems to like it.
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Gigi says
This was actually brought up in one of our staff meetings, because several people have quite a long commute every day. Our department head basically said this, “It’s not fair to those who can’t do their jobs from home to allow those that can – so no.”
I thought that was fair. And those with the long commutes? Well, they knew how far the office was from their homes when they agreed to take the position.
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