Yahoo has drawn ire and hellfire from all over the internet from banning their people from at home, but there's two sides to it.

We've all heard it on the news online: new CEO of Yahoo Marissa Mayer has retracted the privilege of working from home for the employees of Yahoo. According to the many news reports, Yahoo's stand is that employees are expected to report for duty in their offices, and those who have a schedule that allows for them to spend time at home to work are "strongly encouraged" (which, to many employees, feels as though it were a threat) to come to work, as their presence will directly reflect in their performance records.

The controversy of the issue

The response was met with the expected flak from the rest of the computing world. There are multitudes of high-power companies all over the world that have continuously allowed their employees to work from home, regardless of whether or not they have physical offices or are comprised entirely of a virtual office. They all feel the advantages of allowing their employees this type of working structure, and reaped many benefits.

Yahoo was no different, and many of its employees enjoyed the work-from home clause that allowed them to balance work with their home lives. Many of the workers were glad to have this clause, especially those who are handicapped or are expecting mothers, or the parents of young children that need constant supervision, and other similar domestic situations.

To suddenly have Yahoo do a turnaround and retract all of this, calling in their hundreds of remote workers to report for duty within the offices of Yahoo by June 1st or risk losing their place in the company. This drew ire of the Yahoo workers who greatly relied on this clause, as well as the rest of the world.

Why Yahoo did it

Yahoo's move was designed to strengthen the ailing company. There's little doubt that Yahoo has become effectively trounced by Google and Facebook for being a hub of information and services, and it's precisely why Mayer was in the helm to begin with. In Mayer and the HR's eyes, to call in the workers to be present is their means of increasing productivity and improving overall performance, especially since some of the workers have abused the work-from-home clause. They feel that this move would strengthen the company once again.

This is not an illogical move—this is Mayer's idea of calling in reinforcements. Yahoo can no longer afford to have their workers distant when they sorely need all hands on deck. It's a move that has been echoed even by another ailing company, Best Buy, which is losing to online shopping.

Why everyone doesn't find it impressive

The rest of the progressive world does not agree with Mayer's views. Forbes.com dubbed this move "returning to the stone age" in their headlines. Working from home is seen as the future of the workplace by so many companies, including Yahoo's superior competitor, Google. An article by the Huffington Post discussed how this flexibility actually allows workers to be even more productive than confining them in an office setting. Giving them this freedom along with carefully measured goals makes workers more comfortable and therefore more likely to come up with great ideas and exceed their given goals.

Whether or not Yahoo's idea will pay off remains to be seen, but the rest of the world feels as though instead of moving forward, Yahoo is stepping back.

Author Bio 
Monique Jones is an Engineer who deals with telephone systems. Besides being an Engineer, she also works as a part time writer. She helps her colleagues and other people about their communication issues, giving effective solutions to address their needs.