Arlington Office Space Management Lessons From Yahoo’s “No Working From Home” Controversy

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer is currently under fire, particularly from at-home workers. Since June 2013, at-home workers were required to report to the office in what she argues as her way of discerning active and inactive remote workers. However, according to the Daily Mail, that’s just half the reason why the 38-year-old CEO is taking heat; having recently given birth to a baby boy, Mayer had a nursery built on her office to keep her work close and her son closer.

Choosing an office space is one thing; managing it is another. The decision to have all remote workers report to the office, just as working off-site, always carries serious repercussions that have to be taken into account in office planning. Yahoo! had a good reason to enforce this change, but it incited whispers among those who weren’t supposed to be affected by it. Should you enforce a decision like this in the future, make sure your available Arlington office space can take the influx of workers.

Shortly after the memo was issued, the workforce was divided between the ayes and nays. The ayes said it was a welcome decision to root out those who aren’t really earning their keep; namely, those who were abusing the at-home privilege. On the other hand, the nays decry inequality, saying that they don’t have the same privileges that Mayer enjoys. After all, there are cases when they just can’t leave home, forcing them to take the at-home job.

The convenience of adding a nursery, which came out of her own pocket according to the Daily Mail, may be a necessity that came at a bad time. The CEO may have the most number of privileges but he also has the most number of responsibilities; despite this, a manager must know how to keep work matters at work and home matters at home unless all alternatives have been exhausted. Adding a nursery will provide a host of problems as much as it will give conveniences; those are things the CEO must prepare for.

With over 11,000 people working for Yahoo!, can the company’s offices in at least 20 countries handle the surge in workers? Their D.C. office along Constitution Ave. is one of 35 offices across the United States; as these offices are usually big (especially their headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA), perhaps they can accommodate a few hundred. However, the concern is most pressing with remote workers in the countries without a local Yahoo! Branch.

Remote jobs are a good way to expand the workforce while saving on office space, but there’s the drawback of abusing the system to a “no work, yes pay” extent. Choosing office space in Arlington and elsewhere also means anticipating the growth of your business, whether by abolishing work-at-home programs or other means. Get a big space if you’re expecting big things for your business soon; just be ready to justify why you need it and how you’ll use it.

tags: Industry News