Let’s face it. Yahoo’s performance has been plummeting for years. Ever since Google came on the scene, Yahoo has had innovation problems that have left them in the dust. I mean when’s the last time you Yahoo’d something? You don’t. You Google it. So naturally, Yahoo is trying to figure out what went wrong. How did they end up in this place? What can they point to as the reason that derailed everything and sent them heading towards doomsville?

Yahoo is pointing to flexibility as the root of all of its evil problems. And why not…..it works as a scapegoat for managers everywhere that don’t feel like pulling up their big manager pants and holding their employees accountable for their performance.

So Melissa Mayer is following suit and using flexibility as her scapegoat as well. She needs to have SOME reason that her company’s performance stinks so badly. It can’t be poor leadership can it? Or disengaged employees? Or poorly managed teams? I mean it is a lot easier to say that flexibility is at the root of all of Yahoo’s issues than it is to own up to the real reasons that Google has tromped all over their success.

Apparently Melissa Mayer is thinking that if she pushes the rewind button and brings the company back in time by adopting 1952 work practices, then somehow that will transcend them to a time and place when Yahoo actually stood a chance. I hate to be the one to break it to her, but it isn’t 1952 and mandating everyone to have butts in seats isn’t going to make Yahoo great again.

What Yahoo needs is a better approach to flex. One where flex is a business strategy and where collaboration, teamwork and innovation are fostered regardless of where people are physically located.

I think the most disappointing part of all of this for me isn’t that Yahoo took away telecommuting, but rather that the person that took it away is supposed to be someone for me to look to as a role model. One of the few women to make it to the top ranks of a large company. One of the few who understands the demands of being a successful working parent. One of the few that has the opportunity to make a difference and leave a legacy as the world of work transforms.

Instead, Melissa Mayer’s legacy will be the opportunity she missed to really make a difference by owning Yahoo’s issues rather than blaming them on flexibility.

 - Teresa

“The reason she’s hit a collective nerve is because she’s tapped into the employee side of the inequitable work-life balance. Readers everywhere identify with her struggle to have it all and are happy that a high-powered woman has admitted it’s hard to manage career and family. What’s missing is the collective gasp from employers. Because I suspect CEOs, CHROs and others in a position to enable work-life effectiveness for their employees will be quick to brush her off as one more woman who couldn’t (or chose not to) make it work.”

That’s just part of what I said in my blog post in Huffington Post. Read more here.

In it, we highlight 5 strategies every organization should focus on right now to address talent pipeline deficits and increase employee engagement. Scroll to the bottom to the piece to find them.

Best,
Kyra

Telecommuting is a strategy that has worked effectively for other cities when confronted with an event that threatened to close businesses down. London, for example, is already practicing telework as a key strategy for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The article cites only two businesses that are encouraging telecommuting—Aon and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Where are the rest?

Not only is the article disappointing in its lack of examples, but the paper went on to highlight the number of businesses that will close and employees who will have to use PTO days.

NATO holds a meeting in Chicago and the best we can do is “develop plans to provide for employees if they become trapped in their workplaces,” as Brian Tishuk, executive director of ChicagoFIRST said. “There’s been an emphasis on being sure they can lock down a building.” Brian was describing the planning taken by major financial institutions and other companies to prepare for protests that will be held during the summit.

I can totally appreciate the concern of financial institutions that they may be the target of protests while the NATO Summit is held in Chicago. Understandably, bank tellers and managers (whose responsibility it is to handle retail banking transactions) can’t telework, but if you predict their safety to be at risk, then close the bank on Monday, May 21, the last day of the two-day summit.

Museums, restaurants and organizations like American Medical Association and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois will close their doors for at least part of the time that NATO protesters and road closings will be most prevalent.

But for everyone without a face-to-face customer service role, telework is the logical approach to maintaining productivity in the face of street closings, public transportation restrictions, and protests.

Telework should be part of every organization’s crisis management and business continuity plan. We had 11 months to plan for this event. This would have been a great time to test company systems. If we couldn’t get ready for this, I wonder…what will Chicago businesses do when something unexpected hits?

Kyra Cavanaugh
President
Life Meets Work

The people in your company are not just placeholders or stand-ins to do the work.  They are, in fact, the critical factor that drives the growth of your business.

We have to stop thinking of our employees as worker bees and understand that they have a direct, monetary impact on our businesses.  Focusing on culture, making our workplaces more flexible, soliciting diversity of opinion, and letting go of face time are all critical to the survival of your business.

I have more to say on this topic!  Find out what I said at the 2011 Annual SHRM Conference when they asked me: “What will the most successful companies look like in 2020?”

- Kyra