Yahoo! Wrong Problem; Wrong Solution

It was announced this week that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is calling all telecommuting employees back into the office; for good! Mayer cited the need to foster collaboration which can, according to Mayer, only be done in person. The real problem at Yahoo is management, not where people work.  Bringing employees back into the office will not solve their performance problems or inspire more successful and effective innovation and collaboration.  If managers manage employees poorly at home, it is possible that they will manage them poorer at the office.  It is one thing to have a poor manager interact with you occasionally through email, text messages, or by phone but it is quite another to have the manager on your case all the time. Yahoo needs managers who understand the science of human behavior and how to apply its principles and methods successfully in the workplace. 

It is a proven fact that employees who are positively reinforced for their performance will undoubtedly continue to deliver improved performance (ie. Discretionary Effort). Until the CEO fixes poor management and supervisory behaviors, in addition to the across the board executive decision making process, there will be more changes that employees won’t like such as increased job pressures and layoffs.