“Anti-innovation!”, “counter-intuitive”, “unproductive”, etc. …. These are few out of the many comments being thrown around in the internet world when the news leaked online that Marissa Mayer (Yahoo) has decided to ban virtual work arrangements i.e. work-from-home options at Yahoo. But not all are against this decision – there are several Yahoo employees, external experts and general internet public who support this decision for reasons ranging from mitigating mismanagement to compatibility with the policies of top innovative companies like Apple and Google.

There are several key aspects that need to be considered in a work-from-home scenario –

• Employee Productivity – The work-from-home option generally tends to improve employee productivity as the employee chooses his work environment. But there are several pre-conditions for this to happen – there should be a well-designed and well-managed scheduling and tracking system that ensures work-from-home is actually resulting in real work. At the same time the employee base exposed to the work-from-home option should be selected and / or trained for optimal usage of this facility. Two of the key features I would look for in such employees are self-motivation and integrity.
• Work Schedule Flexibility – By integrating a work-from-home option into the scheduling and tracking system of a company they can introduce considerable flexibility to employee work schedule – through mix and match of office hours, office days, number of work-from-home hours per work week, etc. This is highly relevant for employee classes such as working mothers who need the flexibility in order to fulfill their other critical tasks.
• Cost savings to Employer – With a well-designed and optimally integrated work-from-home option, a company can have considerable cost savings not just from the optimal use of the infrastructure (floor space, cabins, utilities, parking, etc.) but also by positioning this option as a replacement or compensation for other cash based benefits.

• Time and Cost savings to Employee – Employees in densely populated cities and metros spend considerable amount of time traveling to and from the office – on an average it is estimated to be around 4 hours per day. Considering a standard 8 hour work day this transit time is a considerable waste of time and can be used either for more work or for personal use in a work-from-home setting. The employees also save on transit costs like public transport tickets, fuel costs, etc.

• Innovation – Over the past few years the above four parameters have been analyzed and fairly stabilized in the work-from-home settings. But when it comes to the Innovation aspect and how the work-from-home setting affects it – it is still a hotly debated topic over the internet. These points came into further prominence recently due to the several internet discussions happening over the decision by Yahoo to ban work-from-home in their office. One side of this debate argues that by introducing several benefits to the employees and improving their productivity the work-from-home option not only attracts innovative employees it also allows them to work harder to innovate. The other side of this debate argues that in an organization team interaction is very crucial to trigger innovation – when team members interact with each other they become aware of the challenges faced and innovations being developed in the various sections of the business thus motivating them to solve those challenges and support those innovations. So which side is correct? They both are! As the answer is highly dependent on the business under which we are implementing or discussing the work-from-home option.

When considering the benefits of a work-from-home scenario for your company we need to take into account the above various aspects and understand how these aspects interact with the company under discussion – as each company will have its own properties and priorities. For example, if the company has a selective hiring policy and has built an employee base of highly motivated workers – the work-from-home option will be easier to implement and more effective at this company.

At the same time the benefits of a work-from-home option for a company are dependent on the priority the company places on each of the above factors. For example a Contract Software Provider might give priority to productivity over innovation. Another case is a company wanting to provide higher work schedule flexibility in order to balance out lower cash benefits to the employees and to attract knowledge workers.

So when considering a work-from-home option for your company keep in mind the key parameters involved, how they interact with your company and the priority of each of these parameters for your company and its business environment.