Patrick McMullan/Sipa USA (Sipa via AP Images)

Just two months after setting off fierce debate about the merits of telecommuting, Yahoo has announced a slate of new perks and benefits for its staffers. On the top of the list is extended maternity and paternity leave. All parents, including fathers now have eight weeks; new moms have 16 weeks.

In addition, parents will receive $500 for necessities, there are gifts for new pet owners, and eight weeks of unpaid leave for employees who make it to five years with the company. This all sounds pretty good, but actually, Yahoo is playing catch up with the rest of Silicon Valley. According to CNN, Google, the company Mayer used to work for, offers all parents seven weeks of paid leave, and between 18 and 22 weeks of maternity leave for mothers. And Facebook offers four months for both parents and $4,000 of “baby cash.”

Mayer herself went back to work two weeks after giving birth to her son on September 30, which everyone commented on (even though it’s none of their business). All of her decisions are watched closely for a variety of reasons: because she’s a woman CEO, because Yahoo was once a major player in the tech space and it’s trying to regain prominence, and because of the attention now being paid to women “leaning in” and “having it all.” Keep in mind, Mayer was pregnant when she accepted the CEO position, so there’s a good chance she felt she had to go back to work as quickly as possibly because she was new to the job.

On the business side, the company’s stock is up 24 percent since the beginning of the year. Mayer herself is being paid $36.6 million in cash and stock for her work.

Research conducted by Kenneth Matos at the Family and Work Institute shows just how far outside the norm these new Yahoo perks are. “Matos’s research shows that only 30 percent of U.S. employers offer paid or unpaid maternity leave that is greater than 12 weeks,” Today’s website says about the data. “Matos also said that 58 percent of employers who provide maternity leave pay new moms for at least some of that time off. Only 14 percent of employers who provide paternity leave pay for some of the dads’ time off.”

Many companies and most states in the US don’t offer very much in the way of paid maternity leave, a rare thing among developed countries. The Today site proposes that the Yahoo changes could spark other developments in this area.

AP Photo/NBC Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire

In an effort to reshape Yahoo’s company culture and to spearhead the company’s future in the technology industry, Yahoo President and CEO Marissa Mayer will require teleworking employees to begin reporting to Yahoo offices beginning June 2013. No more working from home! The move has sparked a huge discussion, with many people taking the pro-telecommuting stance.

Still, the 37-year-old Yahoo CEO isn’t the only one in favor of being in the office. Best Buy is following suit.

Is there some method to Mayer’s madness? If you have the option to work you full-time job from home, check out a few reasons why you might want to get your work done at the office instead.

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Yahoo employees are livid about a memo that was recently sent from HR to employees and subsequently leaked to the public, revealing that, come June, employees are no longer able to work from home. Those that do will be let go and can stay at home permanently! Although there are only a few hundred employees that work from home full-time, the memo directs anyone who even works from home occasionally to make the transition. It goes as far to say “… for the rest of us who occasionally have to stay home for the cable guy, please use your best judgment in the spirit of collaboration.” Geez you can’t even wait for the cable guy?

HR (and CEO Marissa Mayer) justified the drastic decision by saying, “We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.” You can check out the memo on AllThingsD. However, most all data implies that reducing employee flexibility can leave an organization divided.

AP Photo/NBC Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire

The first thing to consider is how much employees value flexibility in their workplace. In a survey conducted by Mom Corps Houston, 45 percent of the 1,096 working adults who responded to questions about flexibility at work said they would be willing to give up, on average, as much as 8.5 percent of their salary for more flexibility at work.

Another aspect to consider is how productive employees will be while working from home. The numbers are still in favor of allowing flexibility. A study conducted by Stanford University of a Chinese company showed that productivity increased when employees were allowed to work from home. As reported by Forbes 9.5 percent of the increase was due to employees working more hours since there was no commute, fewer distractions, and fewer sick days taken. At home, it’s less likely that employees will be distracted by the discussion of who sang better last night on the Oscars, or taking an extended lunch break and hitting the mall.

The call center employees also took more calls per minute. The same study showed that those who worked from home were 50 percent more satisfied with their jobs and less likely to quit.

Yahoo has been struggling to stay afloat and this is another ploy to get back on the right track. Just last week, Mayer paid a visit to the Today show to unveil the company’s new homepage. That move was later questioned; Yahoo and GMA have a business partnership, and that was Robin Roberts’ first day back on the job. It was a ratings winner… for GMA. 

Maybe by forcing all employees into headquarters every day they will weed out the least productive employees. One thing is clear: Yahoo employee morale was reduced the moment that memo was sent.

Employees in tech jobs are spoiled when it comes to work flexibility. And with hundreds of competing IT firms in the area that allow flexible work schedules, many employees will be seeking other employment that allows them to work from home.

After the memo was released, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg wrote:

“For anyone who enjoys working from wherever they like in the world, and is interested in WordPress, Automattic is 100% committed to being distributed. 130 of our 150 people are outside of San Francisco.”

The most beneficial work environment is when employees have a mixed presence in the office, working a few days at home and some in the office. This allows you to be able to wait on the cable guy, while also building strong relationships with your coworkers, your managers, and the company as a whole.

AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron

Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer is on the TODAY show now, talking with Savannah Guthrie about everything from the tech company she leads to her work as CEO (a job she’s held since July) to being a new mom. But the real reason she’s making the morning appearance is to announce that the company has a new homepage that freshens up the look and, as Mayer says, personalizes the news presentation.

Calling it a new “experience,” the tech company’s CEO was sure to say that the homepage isn’t so radical that it will be unrecognizable to users. But emphasized the endless scrolling news feature and other features. The upper right shows what’s trending. And as the TODAY site notes, you can log in using your Facebook account in order to more easily share news.

Yahoo has been struggling to regain prominence in recent years, with the company bringing on Mayer for the expressed purpose of shining up the now dull tech giant. The New York Times writes, “Yahoo’s home page has long been a sort of sad reflection of the company. A jazzed-up Craigslist of sorts, the site was often cluttered with low-quality ads and irrelevant content and in no way reflected the fact that Yahoo is one of the most visited sites on the Web. With more than 700 million monthly visitors, Yahoo is still a leading source of information for sports, finance and entertainment.” The article also notes the homepage’s emphasis on all things Yahoo and the upgrades to customization.

The new look should aid with ad sales, which have been falling in recent years. But a new homepage will only be one step towards a bigger Yahoo recovery. We want to see what else Mayer has up her sleeve.

Image: AdAge.com

-The London Olympics roll on and so do the complaints across the Twitterverse. The hashtags #NBCfail and #NBCsucks have taken hold for viewer complaints about the network’s online streaming of the Games, and their various errors, including the airing of a TODAY show promo announcing Missy Franklin’s swimming gold medal even before they broadcast the race. Nevertheless, NBC is breaking records with the coverage and it has its defenders. (Our two cents, some of the complaints do seem a bit overblown.)

-The Grindstone shares a GlassDoor list of “the 25 companies with the most difficult job interviews.”

-Ricki Lake has a new TV show coming September 10 and a new social network to go with it. Ad Age proposes that this sort of initiative may be necessary for daytime TV, which has seen changing demographics and the fall of soap operas.

-Rather than using old-fashioned focus groups, more brands are turning to Facebook and other social networks to gauge interest in new product ideas. These apps and online surveys also provide companies with a way to reach a younger audience. Have you been giving your feedback?

-With Marissa Mayer taking the CEO spot at Yahoo, interim CEO Ross Levinsohn has decided to leave the company. Paperwork shows that his severance amounts to millions of dollars. A memo to the company says he’s leaving at the end of July, which would be today.

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- Google’s Marissa Mayer is named Yahoo’s chief executive. She’s the fifth person to hold the spot in five years. And she’s faced with the daunting task of rebuilding a company that has lost its luster.

-The price of gas dropped in June, a welcome change. However, food prices crept up a bit, a topic we discussed in some detail yesterday.

-Goldman Sachs is creating an in-house bank to lend money to rich people and big corporations. It’s the bank’s attempt to remake its business in the face of harsh economic realities. The company just announced pay cuts, job cuts, and a steep revenue drop — 14 percent — to  $16.6 billion.

-President Obama is hitting his GOP opponent Mitt Romney hard over the former Massachusetts’ governor’s failure to disclose his tax return information. Romney is already reeling from questions about his involvement with Bain Capital, the private equity firm he says he worked with until 1999. Paperwork suggests his involvement with the company may have lasted longer.

-Last week was Savannah Guthrie’s first as co-host of the Today show. And though the program had hoped to retake its longstanding commanding lead in the ratings over GMA with the ouster of Ann Curry, it was not to be. GMA beat Today by 350,000 viewers and came close to overtaking the show in the 25 to 54-year old demographic.

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Source: USMagazine.com

I can hear the shade typing away already because even though it has to be tough to be blamed for psychologically ruining someone else’s kids with false accusations, considering Gabs was messing with another woman’s husband at the time, Dwyane Wade’s estranged wife, Siohvaughn Funches, deserves just a little leeway for her craziness.

In an interview with Yahoo’s A-Line: Celebrity Style blog, Gabrielle Union was asked how she handled the lawsuit Siovaughn filed against her in 2010 alleging that she had “engaged in sexual foreplay” with D. Wade in front of the couple’s sons, and she told them:

“Taking the high road sucks,” although she added that it was definitely worth it to protect her boo’s 10- and 4-year old sons.

“The biggest lesson [I learned] is that when there are children involved who can’t speak for themselves, no matter how tempted you are to just tell someone else’s truth … you just have to shut your mouth and make sure that they are protected at all times — even if you sacrifice yourself. People will still believe what they want.”

Sort of how people still view her as a homewrecker despite the circumstances surrounding the couple’s union. In 2006, she filed for divorce from NFL star Chris Howard and in 2007 Dwyane drafted papers with his wife, Siohvaughn. Granted he was still married when these two started dating but to say she took him from his wife would be just a bit inaccurate.

Despite how strong the couple appears to be standing throughout all the messiness of his marriage and the media, many still question their potential longevity considering they are two high-profile celebrities. Gabrielle says that’s not an issue.

“We both understand the schedule and the sacrifice and the demand,” she said. “He understands my appeal and I understand his.”

She also pointed out the difference between Dwyane and her ex-husband and other men she dated who couldn’t handle her career as an actress. She said:

“With [Dwyane], we don’t have those issues.”

Since Gabrielle was one of several actors to star in the box office hit, “Think Like a Man,” the reporter had to ask her if thinking like a man is what’s allowed her to have such a successful relationship with D. She said not exactly.

“I think when people say ‘think like a man,’ they really mean use common sense. Just like when they say, you’re thinking like a woman, they mean you are being too emotional. I’m reasonable, you know? I’m not a nut bag!”

We hope not.

How do you feel about Gabrielle Union and D. Wade’s relationship after all this time. Do you think he’ll put a ring on it?

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(Wall Street Journal) — Yahoo Inc. will soon roll out new ways to view content from Facebook Inc. across its websites, according to people briefed on the matter, as it aims to prevent Yahoo users from defecting to the social network. As part of a partnership with Facebook announced last December, Yahoo will begin allowing users to view their stream of Facebook updates—which Facebook calls the “news feed”—from Yahoo.com and Yahoo Mail, these people said. The company will also more easily allow users to post actions they take on Yahoo, such as uploading a photo to Yahoo’s photo service Flickr, back on Facebook, these people said.

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(TG Daily) — Very quickly after announcing an extended partnership with Nokia, Yahoo has further expanded its presence in the mobile market by acquiring Koprol, a social networking start-up based in Indonesia. Koprol specializes in mobile networking, allowing users to share photos with their friends and search for places based on location data.

The social networker describes itself as “a mobile community where people have conversations based on places.” It does not require GPS but it relies on location-driven content. It is currently marketed towards Asian users but due to the Yahoo acquisition it will most likely be getting a new broader message.

Read More…

(TG Daily) — Very quickly after announcing an extended partnership with Nokia, Yahoo has further expanded its presence in the mobile market by acquiring Koprol, a social networking start-up based in Indonesia. Koprol specializes in mobile networking, allowing users to share photos with their friends and search for places based on location data.

The social networker describes itself as “a mobile community where people have conversations based on places.” It does not require GPS but it relies on location-driven content. It is currently marketed towards Asian users but due to the Yahoo acquisition it will most likely be getting a new broader message.

Read More…