Is a recall the answer? A response to Yahoo's end of the telecommute

With CEO of Yahoo Marissa Mayer’s recent recall of all her telecommuting employees, the news has been buzzing about whether or not this was a wise decision. Critics of her decision are calling the action hypocritical as she builds a nursery next to her own office at Yahoo. They list the different burdens that this will place on telecommuting parents who don’t have the same privilege and call the action unreasonable. Those who support her decision argue that she is a CEO and her position requires difficult decision making; if she went to this sort of extreme there must be a good reason behind it. Water cooler conversations, brain-storming sessions, and team interactions don’t occur naturally in the virtual world.

As a company, Innovations has “virtually collaborated” for a number of years. In response to this recent news, Dr. Guillory has published a while paper entitled “Telecommuting and the Human Touch!” He argues that telecommuting is “obviously here to stay and will become a more comprehensive part of our day-to-day working arrangement.” The issue at hand is the fact that creativity is best sparked and realized through interpersonal human interactions.

So the question is, “How do we make it work virtually?”

There are four critical skills outlined by Dr. Guillory that are absolutely necessary for any employee to be able to work out of the office:

1. Personal responsibility and accountability,
2. High competency,
3. Continuous learning, and
4. Self-management.

You may not even realize it, but even in the traditional office, communications are virtual up to 90% of the time. With this in mind, planning a few in-depth, in-person meetings several times a year could be all the difference that you need to make with your telecommuting workforce.

Dr. Guillory has taken his 30 years of experience consulting Fortune 500 companies on performance management, and put together the “Golden Rules of Virtual Teaming and Collaboration”. Read them at the following link to his recent article: http://www.scribd.com/doc/137550451/Telecommuting-and-the-Human-Touch.

Do you agree or disagree? What are your thoughts on virtual teaming?

At Innovations, we are passionate about improving client performance, profitability, and people. If your organization could use a fresh perspective or a boost to your current objectives, please contact us. http://www.innovint.com/about_us/contact_us.php