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Best Buy Follows Yahoo in Banning Remote Work
bednarz writes "Is telecommuting the new scapegoat for poor performance? Best Buy, in the midst of a corporate restructuring, has canceled its flexible work program and expects corporate employees to put in traditional 40-hour work weeks at the retailer's headquarters (they used to be able to work whenever and wherever they wanted). The announcement comes on the heels of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's decision to end telecommuting, which ignited a firestorm of criticism. It also follows news of Best Buy's plans to lay off 400 corporate workers as part of a plan to cut $725 million in costs and restructure its business. This could signal the beginning of a trend, or be an indication that telecommuters need to actively justify their preference for working outside the office."
has nothing to do with working from home. They need to get rid of a bunch of employees and this gives them a way of doing so without actually having a reason to fire them. They know a certain percentage won't be able to work locally, and will have to "voluntarily" quit.
Look at the history of companies like DEC, Compaq, Dell, the list goes on an on.
They all did great until MBAs and Investment Bankers got control.
Then the value was squeezed out and the carcass disgarded.
Its a great way to lay off people without saying its a layoff, or paying for unemployment since quitting would mean no way to collect it.
Work exactly 40 hours per week, and not at all from home.
Person sits at desk from 9-6. Person taps keys. Appears to be breathing. It tells you nothing about whether they're doing their work, so if you can't tell by other means, you're an incompetent employer. And if you can tell by other means, then there's no problem with telecommuting.
Pretty much this.. more extreme form of "Casual dress code is being removed for more 'professionalism' " only to be returned to after layoffs are complete.
Yes
Indeed. BestBuy has been closing stores and laying off. I have a Yahoo! account, and haven't noticed any improvement in years. I started using their email service in 1998. Three minutes later I realized that, although I could put mail in folders, there was no way to create sub-folders. So I could have a folder for "Friends", but I could not have a folder for "Friends/Joe" and "Friends/Betty". I didn't see how that could work for any serious email user, so I sent off an email, and received a response that said plenty of people had asked, and it was a "top priority". Today, fifteen years and fourteen thousand employees later, still no sub-folders. I am curious what any of these employees actually do.
The tools are there to help you - email, instant messaging, and voice and video chat. When I worked in an office, i would say about 30% of my day was spent on actual work, the rest was constant interruptions. I need to be in my zone to function. Once I started working remotely, my productivity level skyrocketed. Since most medium to large companies have a global workforce, the vast majority of knowledge workers are remote anyways. I deal with folks in India, China, Germany, and three time zones in the United States and Canada.
Consider all the open source software that is developed by remote teams, people who have never met, and yet companies that rarely allow remote work use and depend on this same software.
Just imagine of all the office buildings that can be turned into housing in markets like the Silicon Valley. I fill up my car once every 2-3 weeks. My carbon footprint is far lower. Rather than using 2 hours of transit time going to a doctor's appointment, I am only on the road 30 minutes. It is a win-win for me and my employer.
If employees are slacking, put them on a performance plan. If they fail to improve, terminate them.
Nope - that's the point of the exercise. You're not fired - you're quitting.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
Any management that tries these techniques needs to be fired by the shareholders immediately. The people who leave voluntarily when pushed by these types of harassment are always the most valuable ones, who funnily enough find it easy to get a job elsewhere. The ones you're left with are the ones who are pulling you down in the first place (along with the management team, who are obviously deficient if they think reducing headcount is all that matters in saving their ass).
Hush now, you're implying that employees aren't fungible. If they had some unique value they'd be rich, and/or a CEO of something. If your job is "HW Engineer, Senior" you're just a lazy old guy who blackmailed the right middle managers into keeping his job.
Your thought process: "I'm actually pointing outing the truth, if people would actually think about it for a second they might realize I'm right."
How you actually sound: "The reason why blacks and hispanics earn less is because niggers and spics are just lazy. I'm not being racist, I'm just pointing out the obvious."
What everyone you've ever met thinks about you behind your back: "I cant believe how big that guy's ego is, what poor excuse for a human being."
Is it that difficult to understand that some people require structure and oversight?
And some are independent and capable of working alone?
And figuring out which is which is not as easy because you also want to be fair, etc etc?