Reading Marissa Mayer’s new diktat that required all Yahoo! employees to work from office brought back memories:
A few years ago, when we were really running tight in terms of space in our Mumbai office, I asked some of my ‘CRM’ support team to work from home.
The two young boys I proposed this to, did not seem excited.
When questioned, the feedback I got from them was startling.
The first boy (23) said, “Alok, my father made fun of me when I tried this. He said, “What kind of stupid job do you have, that doesn’t need you to go to office? Is this a real job or some scam? Maybe you are pretending that you are employed…”
The second boy (24) shared something even more shocking! He said, “My mother laughed at me and asked me to get milk, vegetables and eggs from the stores downstairs. She assumed that working from home meant – not having any work to do.”
Both these young men were ready to quit their jobs rather than choose an option to work from home.
Of course, India is very different from the USA where working from home is part of the culture (and very common). Having said so, these are my views:
– Working from office actually imposes certain self-discipline on people; that I believe is very important.
I have seen many young people starting their first job with us. Coming to work on time (need not be a very rigid fixed time) and slogging the whole day is important to train the body and mind to ‘apply’ itself when it comes to doing something productive.
When I joined my father’s business, I was asked to ‘sit’ (see Wait, Watch and Win). That was my job at the job.
Point made – coming to work is important to imbibe as a discipline at a very early age that helps in the long run.
– Some businesses require the ‘presence’ of people.
In many old world Companies, the bosses’ “commitment” is recognized by when they arrive at work and when they leave. Many old owners I know take pride in saying, “I come first to office and leave last.”
In my factory, the word was that if you looked at your watch just when my dad drove in, it would definitely be 9:30 am. His physical entry into the factory was like a ‘time check’.
On the flip side, I know some Marwari Companies where the staff gossip about the young owners calling them ‘lafangas’ (loitering hooligans) just because they never show up at work.
Point made – old world Companies demand that you show up. You have to be physically around.
– Coming to work actually teaches you a lot about life!
Assuming that you don’t work for the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai (where the agenda of working is to NOT attend work), most jobs today are fun, challenging, scary, demanding and nerve-wracking. The job teaches you what life really is.
Politics at work, stupid bosses and their super bosses teach you why life is not a fairy tale. Intense competition at the workplace teaches you that sometimes just being good at your job is not enough – you have to also know how to package and present yourself beyond just being intelligent and clever.
I believe that staying at home for long job durations cocoons you and is protective and false. It can easily disenchant you from the real world and even make you unemployable.
Real jobs in real offices teach you about the real world. No denying that.
– What happens at work, is magic!
If you consider the business of making mobile games (what I run), everything happens at the work place. Inspirations, laughs, ideas, observations, silliness, the mashups of emotions, hopes, dreams and fears.
We make games we like to call ‘slices of life’. And we see many slices at the workplace.
So many of us find a mini ‘satori’ or ‘nirvana’ moment when something magical happens at work. It may be a great idea that gets approved, a suggestion that saves the company lots of money or anything noteworthy! That magic happens when lots of energies are pooled together.
At the cost of sounding boorish and old fashioned, I stand for Marissa Mayer and her new rule.
Yahoo! will become a bigger and better company when the payroll shows up at work. Not when it’s virtual, like its business!
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