Merissa Meyer, CEO, Yahoo
In an exclusive from TheStreet.com, Rocco Pendola reports that Merissa Meyer, CEO of Yahoo (YHOO), is enforcing her no work from home policy with zero tolerance. One would expect that a drastic change in culture would be disruptive to any company, none the less a company with a relatively new CEO trying to establish her brand.
Don’t let that cheeky smile fool you, Merissa’s brand is cold hard steel. According to Rocco, if you even dare to request an exemption, you’ll be thrown out on your ass, and forget about unemployment, apparently you’ll be branded a mutineer. There’s apparently no Google left in her.
Rocco reported a very specific case where this is exactly what happened. It doesn’t matter if you’re an A player or a bench warmer, either you shape up, figure out your new life schedule, buy a car, get a nanny, and come to work, or it’s hasta la vista baby.
So, why is this such an intriguing story? Because the trend in today’s culture is towards a remote workforce, not away from it. There’s numerous benefits to being remote, not only for the employee, but also for the employer and the environment. Heck, consider a company as big as Yahoo, and all those cars now on the road, every day, pumping CO2 into the air. I wonder what the new carbon footprint of Yahoo is going to be, and will All Gore be there demanding Merissa buy credits from him.
The thing that should worry other big tech companies is whether this will be the beginning of a trend, especially if her management style is successful. I wonder if the new Apple Spaceship office building will require such a rule. You have to imagine Apple will want to get the most out of that $5 billion Tim Cook is spending.