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May 13, 2013
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
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Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
April 22, 2013
US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer
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Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama's visit to Israel had no impact on public opinion or government policy
Morgan Housel: Gold collapse: The start of something big?
Pete Spotts: Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds
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Shira Rubin: Too much of a good thing? 'Palestinians' realize downside of foreign aid boom
Morgan Housel: BAD NEWS: EVERYONE IS RIGHT!
April 15, 2013
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Marcy Darnovsky and Karuna Jaggar: High Court to decide if you should own your DNA
Howard LaFranchi: US bracing for more Russian blowback after taking action against 18 more human rights violators
April 12, 2013
Mark Clayton: New cybersecurity bill: Privacy threat or crucial band-aid?
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jackie Robinson's Friend, Hank Greenberg; CNN's Jake Tapper; Texas County in the News is named for 19thC. Jewish soldier and Congressman
The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: FRUITY QUINOA STUFFED PEPPERS: A flavorful, colorful and edible vessel of delicately fluffy, mildly nutty filling combined with chewy apricots, tangy cherries, and crunchy pistachios
April 10, 2013
Peter Grier: North Korean missiles: Could US shoot them down?
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Donald Hensrud, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Take vitamin supplements with caution --- even approved, they may actually do damage
Eryn Brown: 74 DNA discoveries move cure closer for three cancers
April 8, 2013
Jonathan Tobin: What Part of No Preconditions Do American Jews Not Get?
Fred Weir: Is Putin finally trading his own party for a new power base?
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Jewish World Review
March 8, 2013/ 26 Adar 5773
Yahoo! I don't have to telecommute
By
Reg Henry
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Traditionalists will be glad to know that this column is being written in the office, surrounded by a great heap of untidy papers that threaten to re-enact a landslide. Frequent trips to the water cooler are involved in the creative process and many meetings because, well, this is America, home of the meeting attendees.
Not for me the work-at-home lifestyle, which offers none of these amenities. No, my bosses want me to be physically present here at the word factory, the better to inspire my colleagues with my personal dynamism. Of course, they haven't actually told me that because they don't want to offend my wonderful sense of humility.
But now a corporate cat has been thrown among the pigeons and feathers have been ruffled. Yahoo Inc.'s CEO, Marissa Mayer, 37, recently ordered staff working from home to report to their offices starting in June, igniting a national debate about whether home or office was the best place for worker productivity.
Working at home is on the rise and admittedly there's some evidence that it is more productive for some people if not for me. It is certainly a boon to those workers -- women especially -- who wish to balance child care with a career. Mayer has it easier. She paid for a nursery to be built next to her office after the birth last year of her first child.
CEOs can make their own rules, of course, and Yahoo staffers who have the misfortune not to be CEOs are being told that working side by side with others encourages collaboration and improves work speed and quality. However, as much as I like working in the office, this is not been my experience, at least the speed part.
The meetings are the problem. Having to attend meetings all the time allows very little opportunity to write anything. While this would seem to be an unproductive use of my time, it is obviously a blessing to the readers.
Office meetings do serve another important purpose. They allow me to show the bosses that I am well briefed on the issues. That is why I try not to say anything. There's always a chance that they will think still waters run deep. Sometimes the impression I make is so impressive that colleagues will say to each other: "Is Reg in quiet dynamic mode or is he asleep?" A computer screen for an online meeting can't convey the sheer drama of these moments in all their snoring glory.
Working side by side with colleagues does lead to collaboration. Sometimes our collaborations result in sending out for wedding soup (a Pittsburgh speciality much better than the bitter divorce soup) or a cake for someone's birthday. We eat so much cake around here you would think Marie Antoinette was one of the editors.
Also, we have chats about subjects that have nothing to do with anything and that obviously makes the day go faster, at least until the next scheduled meeting.
I couldn't work at home anyway. I don't have a dog (my beloved Sooner ran out of dog years last year). Being home all day without a dog is one of the loneliest feelings a person can experience. I don't know how any boss can expect a dog-deprived miserable person to be productive. Maybe Mayer should require only staffers without dogs to go back to the office.
To be sure, some people thrive working at home, dogs or not. But being a non-self-starter, I'd need an automatic bed ejector to throw me into the study at a certain hour, say 10 a.m., if I were working at home.
The danger is that I would wear pajamas so much I'd risk turning into a full-time blogger. As for an untidy work desk, Mrs. Reg would never allow that at home -- and the thought of increased efficiency due to a clutter-free desk would promptly send me back to bed. But somehow I doubt that the average Yahoo staffer is like me.
If Mayer reads this, I hope she is cheered by the many advantages of office work attendance outlined here. I find it encouraging that an Internet-related company is making old-fashioned ways seem fashionable again. For a long time, all we heard was how computers had eliminated the tyranny of time and place in an interconnected world.
Now, thanks to Yahoo, the world has shrunk back to cubicles next to each other with workers shouting over the partitions. "Hey, Greg, shall we send out for wedding soup or order a cake for Susan's birthday?"
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment by clicking here. Reg Henry is a columnist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Previously:
• A sequestration only a Sasquatch could love
• A quote! My kingdom for a good quote!
• Super Bowl leaves dark stain on U.S. image
• A confession to sin of shopping omission
• Undecided voters are clearly in the wrong
• These words can be irritating? Really?
• A father's message is something to laugh at
• Dear Friends: Facebook is, like, so lame
• High Tide: the detergent drug dealers dig
• It's funny how scary side effects can be
• Must we meet so much? It's transparent
• Why America needs a proper curmudgeon
• A new grandfather's coming-of-age story
• America still shows the power of the individual
© 2011, SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
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