Yahoo abolishes work at home policy, faces flak

CEO Marissa Mayer's decision to scrap the work-from-home option at Yahoo has shocked technology professionals and diversity experts. While some say work-from-home policy has its benefits, others point out that IBM— a company that has made significant progress in providing this option—is withdrawing the benefit to sections of its employees.



Yahoo's explanation for the policy change is that face-to-face interactions among employees foster a more collaborative culture. But experts in India say the lack of flexibility would create problems especially for women, who are expected to take on significant responsibilities at home. Ravi Raman, diversity consultant at IT industry body Nasscom, said, "Flexibility is a gender neutral issue when it comes to work. Stealing that will adversely impact India's leadership pipeline. More importantly, women will be the immediate casualty of a rigid work environment. The number of women in lead positions is already so few." Saundarya Rajesh, founder of Avtar Career Creators, said: "Flexibility is oxygen for career women."

Working from home started kicking in during 2004 and 2005, and has picked up momentum since 2008. IBM began this trend in India some ten years ago. According to some estimates, about 5 out of 100 tech professionals work from home in India. "The number of people who work from home has been growing steadily in the last five years among MNCs and domestic companies. But the working-from-home population is a floating population and it's tough to put a number; the ratio varies every day," said Bangalore-based people expert Geetha Kannan.

But IBM too seems to be putting work-from-home arrangements on the back burner. An IBM employee said, "I used to pick and choose the day and week I would work from home till a month ago. I would simply text my boss: 'Today I am home-working'. That was enough. Suddenly, everyone in my team has been asked to come to work daily, unless there is a legitimate reason to work from home." Some IBMers used to work from home for months together. "I know one colleague who showed up only 4 or 5 times a year in the office. Now that person comes to work daily," said another techie at IBM. An IBM spokesperson, however, said, "IBM is committed to providing a supportive, flexible work environment to its employees." Some employees at Accenture and TCS too said work from home arrangements had been restricted recently.