Lessons and reminders from the Yahoo! work-at-home flap
Practice managers and physician owners might look at the media attention focused on Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer's decision to end work-from-home at her company and think, well, that doesn't apply to me. And it's true, with only a few exceptions (say, billing), medical practice staff members are unlikely to be able to do their work from home -- not just because they need to be where the patients are, but also because of the privacy risks of bringing documents out of the office. That doesn't mean, though, that the controversy and discussion that Mayer's decision engendered (and now Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly's as well) are completely irrelevant to physician practices. Because even though working at home is an option that won't often make sense for medical office staff, the media frenzy about one company's HR decision does illustrate how challenging it can be to make management changes without unintended consequences, even when the need for the change seems obvious. Change sparks fear One of the theories that immediately emerged about the Yahoo! telecommuting ban was that Mayer was simply implementing "backdoor layoffs" -- i.e., that she'd determined that forcing everyone into the office would be an easy way to encourage telecommuters to quit to achieve needed cost reductions. Naturally, this theory provokes fear in all staff -- what if there aren't enough quitters to bring costs down, and my job ends up on the chopping block? There are mixed reports of how the end of telecommuting is actually playing with Yahoo! employees -- despite the ongoing outrage of bloggers, there are also reports that many current Yahoos understand the need for and actually support the change. But, certainly the situation is a good reminder about how important it is to communicate effectively with employees, to help prevent unnecessary fears from taking hold -- otherwise, you risk losing your most valued employees, who will begin job hunting in earnest when they sense trouble. (I have seen changes as small as eliminating free coffee to save a few bucks lead to swirling rumors that bankruptcy is imminent! When communication is missing,