{Work at Home Wednesday} why I’m not polishing my pitchfork to go after Marissa Mayer

Normally on Wednesdays, I do a feature where I highlight a mom who is working at home or has started her own business. This week I’m going to switch gears a bit to talk about the Marissa Mayer thing and Yahoo. marissa mayer yahoo

If you missed it, over the weekend a memo was leaked from CEO Marissa Mayer to Yahoo employees, telling them that they no longer can work remotely (ie-at home) and that starting in June, everyone has to report to the office for work, or they can resign.  She immediately drew a bit of criticism, particularly in social media and from mom bloggers. Initially I agreed with the criticism of her, particularly her statements that work productivity suffers.

Then I read this article that quoted some Yahoo people that are agreeing that the work-at-home situation at Yahoo is a train wreck. Like anything, there are two sides to every story and now the other side has emerged.

That being said, she certainly could have handled it differently. She could have simply demanded more and better of her employees, and could have seen to it that productivity gets better and that people aren’t doing side jobs on Yahoo’s timeclock. It also bears mentioning that she apparently has a nursery of sorts set up in her office at Yahoo, a luxury that not every employee has.

But you know what? Ms. Mayer was not speaking to all employees across the country or to all work at home parents. She was only speaking to those at Yahoo. She didn’t say that all productivity suffers. I’m sure she has the evidence that it is affecting Yahoo’s productivity. They said so in their statement released today:

“This isn’t a broad industry view on working from home,” it said.

“This is about what is right for Yahoo right now.”

Is she out of touch? Maybe, if you are looking at remote working as a whole. But not necessarily if you are focused on remote working climate at Yahoo. She thinks that she is doing best by Yahoo, the company she was hired to run. Many parallels have been drawn as far as comparing Yahoo to Google or to Apple, who are crushing them in their markets. Do those companies have the same liberal remote work policies that Yahoo has? Did they get where they are in their markets by allowing such generous policies? I think it warrants looking in to. Yahoo has stated repeatedly that “work ethic at Yahoo has deteriorated over time.”

We also haven’t seen Ms. Mayer’s results yet. History may show that for this moment in time, this absolutely is the best decision for Yahoo. We’re not there yet.

I think she is enduring some undue criticizing merely because she is a woman and a mother. Would we have been so harsh on a male CEO, or would we have just dismissed him readily and not expected any different? It’s almost as if because she is a CEO that was hired while pregnant, that we feels she owes this to us. She doesn’t. She’s a young, female, mom, CEO that is still very much in a male-dominated world.

For me, it serves as a good reminder. That my company allows me to work at home as a privilege, not a right. And that as long as my productivity stays where it needs to be, I should be safe. I don’t think she did this on a whim. Just because I work diligently at home while on the clock doesn’t mean all employees do, as evidenced at Yahoo. She wasn’t talking to me.

I think we are being unfair to her by not allowing her lead on her terms. We all rejoiced when she was hired, visibly pregnant and in her mid-30s. Now, let’s let her do her job. Because the real atrocity here isn’t that she banned working from home at a company she was hired to lead. The real ‘epic fail’ as Forbes called it, is if we learn that 2-weeks maternity leave and no remote working is what it takes for a young mom to be a successful CEO. And that’s up to all of us, not just Marissa Mayer, to prove the world wrong. The epic fail is if she’s right.

So I’m not ready to “shame on you” to Marissa Mayer. But shame on you Yahoo employees, if you have in fact ruined it for the rest of us.

 

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Superpoints suspends program immediately, November 7

Superpoints put out notice today that they are suspending operations.

 

I would go claim whatever you can, right now!

 

Their message:

An important message from the Superpoints team:

Dear Superpoints members,

At the end of January, 2011 the current team began to manage operations of Superpoints.com on behalf of its owner, Superpoints, LLC, in the hopes that we could build a great rewards community. We did our best, but unfortunately Superpoints, LLC has decided to cancel our management relationship and take back management of the site.

Unfortunately we are forced to suspend access to Superpoints.com and members will no longer have access to the site as of 3:00 pm central time on November 7th, 2012. We’re saddened to have to take this action, but extenuating circumstances have forced our hand. We’ll do our best to complete fulfillments on a timely basis for those rewards claimed prior to the site’s suspension.

FAQ:

Will my pending redemption still be paid out?
Yes, we will do our best to fulfill all redemptions submitted to Superpoints.com prior to 3:00 pm CST on November 7, 2012.

Why are you making such drastic changes?
There are several changes happening in the management of the Superpoints website and the economic conditions around supporting a rewards site. Those changes have prompted the suspension of the Superpoints.com website.

What about my support email that you haven’t replied to?
At this time we do not have the resources available to respond to all the support emails. We will begin answering new support emails regarding redemptions but all prior emails will not be addressed. If you have any outstanding requests regarding redemptions, please contact us again and we will look into it. Requests outside of redemptions may or may not be responded to.

Is the site going down permanently?
The current team will no longer be the managing operator of the Superpoints.com domain and therefore we don’t have information as to whether or not Superpoints.com will resume service at a future date.

New Jingit videos out

Did you get the email? I did! There are new Jingit videos out. If you’ve already done the Jello one, there’s a new Snickers one, so look for it. And, don’t forget to check in at stores when you go, for extra money.