Baby on board: Yahoo! CEO built a nursery at work

Marissa Mayer won’t be affected by the company’s new work-at-home ban; she built a nursery for her newborn at the office.

By Charyn Pfeuffer - MSN Living Editor Feb 27, 2013 7:51PM

Some 30 million people work from a home office at least once a week. In the next five years, that number is expected to increase by 63 percent, according to a study by the Telework Research Network.

Since a memo leaked on Friday pulling the plug on Yahoo!'s work-at-home policy, the decision has come under fire from the masses, including many working mothers who believe Marissa Mayer’s stunt is the worst decision she's made in her tenure as Yahoo! chief executive.

You see, unlike most new moms, Mayer has the luxury of bringing her four-month-old son to the office. Before she dropped the no-work-at-home bomb, she built (and paid for) a nursery next to her office.

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Employees are griping that it's unfair that Mayer can bring her baby to the office, while they can't work from home regularly and take care of their own kids at the same time, reports Huffington Post.

“We all applaud her, but she's superhuman, rich, and in charge,” Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of a much-discussed article for The Atlantic, “Why Women Still Can't Have It All,” told The Associated Press.

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Marissa Mayer isn't “really a realistic role model for hundreds of thousands of women who are trying to figure out how you make it to the top and have a family at the same time,” Slaughter told AP.

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Bonnie Fuller, Editor-in-Chief of HollywoodLife.com thinks critics should cut Mayer some slack.

“There are so few female CEOs of large companies, we shouldn't be slagging any of them, let alone dissing Mayer for first being pregnant, and second, for trying to be close to her baby,” she wrote in a Huffington Post blog post.

Do you think Mayer’s baby nursery and the working-from-home policy should be linked? Should other new mothers at Yahoo! Be able to bring their own babies to work?

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Photo: Marissa Mayer / Peter Kramer/AP

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34Comments

Newest

Raquel Degenhard (Raquel170)

Mar 5, 2013 10:39PM

Glad she was able to do this so that she would never have to go through the pain my husband and I share for the rest of our lives for what happened to our son. Please read his story and share it with as many people as possible. Here's the link:

Sincerely and forever heartbroken,

Sonny's Parents and family

Previous replies

scowler42

Mar 1, 2013 7:11PM

Power may have its perks, but leadership also has its responsibilities. No corporate officer should ever set themself above the rank-and-file. The philosophy of "Do as I say, not as I do" just doesn't work. It breeds resentment. And mistrust. If your employees don't respect you, then you won't be able to lead them anywhere -- not even to the toilet! So, before you accept that Top Management position, make sure you know how to lead. And make sure you understand that the majority of your success will depend on the success of those who report to you. If they fail, then you've failed. And then, you're not going to go anywhere!

Previous replies

Emmasabby

Mar 1, 2013 12:04PM

Great that Ms. Mayer built the nursery with her own money right next to her office on Yahoo property with(I assume) the approval of the yahoo board of directors.

Does that mean she also pays the separate insurance, utility, security, rental fees, and property tax for the non-related/non-employee use of the Yahoo property that houses the nursery. Fair is fair after all.

When on-site, Is the nanny an employee of Yahoo and /or the CEO? Does the nanny ride to work with Ms. Mayer or does she have her own parking spot?

The nanny could ,potentially,represent a major security breech. After all, someone that close to the main office of power could be worth something to someone else's organization. How detailed was her background checked? her family? Who paid for her security check anyway, the CEO or Yahoo?

These are just some of the questions that ran through my mind when I first heard this.

Most people who defended Ms Mayer do so by first saying " She paid for the nursery." That's some mighty fine high-end classism to me-THEM that got it can do what they want--every other "shmuck" has got to shut up, tow the line and make up the difference.....

Talk about your family values!

Previous replies

L.A. Maryanne

Mar 1, 2013 7:39AM

She's too inexperienced for her job. Working at home is not a "privilege". Work is work no matter where you do it. Unfortunately in my 38 years in the corporate world I have seen so many women managers who manage employees like they would their children. If an employee is not productive, work space or location probably has little to do with it. Children do not belong in the workplace--nursery or not.

Previous replies

Ed M.

Mar 1, 2013 6:31AM

Shut and and work, serfs!

Isn't my private nursery next to my office wonderful, peons?

Previous replies

bossama

Mar 1, 2013 6:23AM

Really? If all of you can't see what's wrong here, you need to conduct some self evaluation/soul searching. The fact that she has her child at work is all you need to know what is wrong with this picture. This aint rocket science folks! It has everything to do with the Golden Rule and not a lot more. For those of you that were never taught the Golden Rule (and wow don't we know there are millions out there!), it is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". It's no more complicated than that! Anything else is double standard (hypocrisy).

This is in addition to the notion that a lot of people working from home are doing data entry type work. They are not "interacting" and/or being creative with their co-workers. Sheesh! Oh and BTW, this isn't a matter that is only applicable to women as it is oft being portrayed by the female dominated media.

Previous replies

sonoma59

Mar 1, 2013 6:22AM

What a shame to see a young, intelligent, female leader treating her employees as if they are serfs! Where would the company be without its' employees? How successful would she be without her employees? If she has her own private nursery, then she should have a large nursery for the staff to bring their children to work too! This is a concept that most large organizations have employed since the early 1990's!

As far as the telecommuting policy, any good manager knows that it is the output of the employee that should be measured - not the hours spent sitting in an office cubicle. Every study has shown that telecommuting employees are more productive since there are fewer interruptions. Perhaps she should just have a policy that has employees either coming into the office once a week for face-to-face meetings, or having employees attend meetings via skype.

The workforce is the most valuable asset that a company has, and they should be treated well. Marissa Mayer should utilize the Golden Rule, instead of acting like the evil Queen in Alice in Wonderland!

Marissa Mayer needs some management training. She should explore "Deming's 14 Points," so that she does not lose her workforce, and Yahoo ceases to exist.

Previous replies

Dan Phillips

Mar 1, 2013 6:20AM

Worker productivity goals and performance should be a given at a company like Yahoo!

When I hear a CEO say that everyone should work in the office because those that work at home are slacking off, I immediatley think of what criteria they are measured by, who is supposed to be supervising them and, if it's been such a problem, why haven't unproductive workers been reprimanded and then terminated when peformance didn't improve. The answer to my question is almost always that no one is supervising the work that those employees should be doing, no rules or only very vague policies are in place. The company lacks the discipline to really determine what it wants and needs from a work at home employee and when they have a financial setback then all work at home employees suddenly suck. I will give one general rule of thumb that works for every business and especially ones that hire a figurehead CEO, employees will for the most part work to promote and further the business that employs them and will try to succeed at what they do. CEO's who say the problem is the workforce and or any level below them is not the solution, they are the problem. Have solid hiring policies, have good job descriptions, have managers that train, support, and evaluate employess. Promote the best and fire or reassign those that can't move up and repeat as necessary. Then you'll have a CEO who's been through this upward movement and can truly manage a business. The people that our country puts in a position of responsibility is ridicoulus, I bet that 1000 people who read this would have a resume that qualify them to run Yahoo more than the current CEO.