Yahoo Vs The US Government
Before Covid, CEOs did not always think beyond their goals. Yahoo's former CEO could have seen the writing on the wall when she banned telework. It removed top talent from the success equation. Perhaps they didn't use a do the math on telework or even use the government's calculator. They should have calculated the costs and savings of telework. It would have made them look twice at the decision to eliminate telework from its business model. Yahoo created a real challenge that has ripple effects even today. It has already influenced the struggling "Best Buy" franchise to adopt a circle-the-wagons approach to management. What both companies failed to realize is that this decision only encourages the "creme of the crop" to leave. They will move on to competitors with robust telework policies. So who has the burden of carrying this out? Well, managers do. They want to keep their high performing players on the team. Now is the time to think this through - before the executives cripple their teams.Tools To Help Decision Makers
There are mechanisms to do a cost analysis on this issue. However, mid-level decision makers will be challenged by the time constraint HR will enforce to make this shift happen. So, I recommend a quick look at a tool used by the US government to do some "back of the napkin" analytics. That can, at the very least, plug the leaks until better solutions can be found. The US government's simplified calculator can be plugged in quickly to provide quick high-level answers. And in a world of expectations that want quick answers, it may provide a leg up. Here is a link to check it out.The Telework Calculator
GovLoop's calculator is "designed to help employees put some real hard metrics in front of their management about the benefits of teleworking.” The calculator factors in the # of days per week you plan to telework, the round-trip miles driven each day, vehicle type, and commute time. It produces your annual total cost savings, annual hours of productivity saved and productivity in terms of dollars gained, annual vehicle savings, and pounds of greenhouse gases saved.
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