Telecommuting: What some large companies are saying..

WordPress closing its doors? No. Just a co-working space in San Francisco, CA that was a warehouse turned workspace for the employees of the region. Filled with gaming tables and the flexibility to work where they please, less than 1% of the 550 employees utilize this space. Its a waste explains CEO Matt Mullenweg. 

Automattic, the tech company who owns WordPress, has always given their staff the freedom to work remotely along with a monthly stipend to set up say at a local coffee shop. With similar co-working spaces located in South Africa and Maine, the space in San Francisco ended up not making the cut in this culture. 

Unlike Automattic, who embraces remote working, companies such as Yahoo have gone in the complete opposite direction. CEO Marissa Mayer, 2013, banned the company of telecommuting, stating for the best results our team needs to be working side by side. 

More recently than Yahoo, IBM, who was a advocate of working remotely, switched up their plan telling thousands of US employees they’ll need to make acquaintance with their desks again. With a similar view as Yahoo, working together will cultivate creativity 

With the ever growing popularity of remote working, with convenience, lowered office costs, flexibility.. can come at a price (not necessarily monetary) for the company. When employees have not met and whose interactions are virtual through email, text, phone call and video conferencing.. disputes can brew and escalate relatively quickly, unlike if you’ve worked with the person(s) before and know and understand their personality. You also get a sense of vocal and facial cues when working face to face. 

There’s always a happy medium – its just fining the right one for your company.