Soup Is Not A Finger Food

We've come a long way, baby - or not

BY NOW, YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD THE BUZZ over Yahoo!'s recent edict concerning telecommuting. CEO Marissa Mayer decreed, through HR (of course), that "Beginning in June, we’re asking all employees with work-from-home arrangements to work in Yahoo! offices." This is, they rationalize, an attempt to foster "communication and collaboration... [and] insights [that can only] come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings." Furthermore, they generalize that "Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home."

The backlash has been strong. Lisa Belkin wrote on Huffington Post that being "one Yahoo!" does NOT necessarily mean that all teams must physically work together in the same space. "It did 40 years ago, when work and home were separate realms and workers had the luxury of taking care of one at a time. ...It did 20 years ago, when the tools of work were all in the office -- all the files and paperwork; the office phone, with the office number, and the cord that didn't reach beyond the cubicle wall....It did before there were studies showing that flexibility improves worker productivity, and morale and health." (Links to studies in Belkin's post.)

The link to this post was flying around Facebook yesterday, so I shared it. In response, a friend shared a link to a piece on SFGate, which claims an insider view. Apparently Yahoo!'s structure is bloated and there are employees who "hide" behind telecommuting. It is believed that some of them are not productive. 

It goes on to note that "Mayer saw another side-benefit to making this move... some remote workers won't want to start coming into the office and so they will quit. That helps Yahoo, which needs to cut costs. It's a layoff that's not a layoff... Bigger picture: This is about Mayer 'carefully getting to problems created by Yahoo's huge, bloated infrastructure.' The company got fat and lazy over the past 15 years, and this is Mayer getting it into fighting shape."

Well.

If this is indeed a back-door layoff, I have a problem with that. If performance and productivity are truly the problems, then management could and should address that with a scalpel, through the company's performance management system, instead of wielding an axe. If collaboration is the primary concern, then I say, use videoconferencing and conference calls and fly your remote staff in to the office on a regular basis. But If a layoff is truly needed in order to address bloat and cut costs, then have the guts to execute a real, honest-to-goodness layoff.

I think it's an insult to Yahoo! employees to hide behind the "one Yahoo!" rallying cry.

I don't doubt there are those who take advantage of the conveniences that telecommuting affords. But don't we all know office-based folks who are pros at looking busy when they aren't? Conversely, there are some talented employees who are truly productive and make valuable contributions while working some sort of alternative work schedule, be it telecommuting or flex time or some combination thereof. Perhaps some of them even outproduce their office-based peers.

Unfortunately for Yahoo!, the collateral damage in this case - besides the bad PR - will be the loss of some truly talented and productive folks along with the so-called slackers. 

I believe that within 10 years, plenty of us will look back at the 90s and the 00s and think how quaint it was that we all had to schlep to a central office. With modern technological tools such as videoconferencing, mobile phones, cloud computing and high-speed internet connections now commonplace in most of our homes, many of us are well-equipped to function effectively and productively from a home office.

Like Belkin, I don't believe it makes sense anymore to confine work to a one-size-fits-all work schedule at one specific location. Telecommuting isn't for every employee, nor is it suitable for every job. But where it does make sense, I believe employers would do well to consider alternative schedules on a case-by-case basis. To me, it seems foolish to preclude attracting and retaining top talent by enacting such Draconian measures. What if I'm a top-performer in my company and my spouse gets a dream-job offer in a whole other time zone. Wouldn't my employer be crazy not to consider the possibility of a telecommuting arrangement in order to keep me in my job?

And here's the kicker. By and large, it is WOMEN who have benefited in large numbers by many employers' willingness to extend flexibility to them. So for a female CEO to do this feels, to me, like the proverbial rug has been pulled out from under me and my sisters by one of our own.

I agree that there is something to be gained though in-person teamwork, but I also think Yahoo! is going to regret this approach for many reasons. I'll be watching with interest as events unfold.

 

Coffee Talk

A MOMENT OF SILENCE, PLEASE, for our dearly departed Melitta Mill & Brew coffeemaker:

*sniff*

We've had this gem for, gosh, probably nine years. It made a great cup of coffee, and we happen to be folks who prefer our coffee maker to grind the beans for us. (Fewer steps in the morning = good) Oh, it wasn't a perfect machine. Shortly after we got it, the latch on the top lid stopped holding it shut. We tried a duct-tape ghetto-fix, but once we figured out that if we propped it against our paper towel holder like this--

 -- it would stay closed and brew just fine, thank you very much.

And that was okay with us until we noticed a crack in the side of the carafe. the crack grew and grew - 

-- and for the past few months we've been wondering each morning if TODAY is the day we wake up to coffee shooting out all over the countertop.

Knowing it was going to break eventually, I started researching. Could we buy a new carafe, perhaps? Sure, for like $45 on eBay! Might as well buy a whole new coffee maker. Could we buy a whole new model of this beloved machine? My research led me to this website, where a small but ardent community of Melitta devotees mourn the fact that this very popular coffee maker was discontinued years ago. (I also validated that the broken-latch problem was common. That made me feel better.) Someone on eBay must have also seen this site because I just saw one listed for sale there for $168.

In fact, there really aren't many options out there for the all-in-one machine. I ended up finding this one on our bank's "reward points" website and we hoarded our points until we could "afford" it. It arrived today. It's... so.... big!

And it's apparently so complicated to use, it comes with a 20-minute how-to video:

...which I will watch. Later. I actually just brewed half a pot of coffee. (Possibly related: I'm the type who goes shopping and comes home and tries on everything again and makes everyone look at me.) It's good! I like that the hopper stores beans for a few pots at a time, rather than having to fill it every time you use it. 

So, here's hoping this one gets us through another decade (or at least lasts until we accumulate more reward points).

 

Making it up as I go along

HI! Remember me? I used to blog here until I stopped making time. I miss it. But you didn't come here to read my whining about how I'm just so so so busy with work and the kids and the pets and the house (beating back the squalor!) and whatever else. So instead of that, I wanted to share a post about some stuff I've made lately. some pretty awesome stuff, actually.

LAUNDRY DETERGENT. A cousin of mine swears by making her own - not only for its cleaning ability but also because it's super frugal, costing just pennies per load. And because milk is $4/gallon and a head of iceberg lettuce is $2.69 (?!), we have to pinch pennies wherever we can. So I tried her recipe. OMG. I LOVE IT! It's easy to make and it really works. It's low-sudsing which makes it safe for use in HE machines, and you know exactly what's in it. And did I mention how inexpensive it is?  There are lots of recipes on the internet, some for liquid and some for powder, but I make the liquid.

Be sure you have a CLEAN bucket (buy one new and dedicate it for exclusive use) and something to transfer your finished product into - plastic pitchers, or re-use laundry detergent bottles or milk jugs (a funnel makes transfer easier). Also, after you let it sit overnight, it's kind of like runny Jell-O, so give it a good stir or, even better, jam an immersion blender in there to reliquify it before you transfer it into storage containers. Bonus points if you make clever labels such as "Caroline Ingalls's Pioneer Laundry Soap".

DISHWASHER DETERGENT. I got to thinking, if I can whip up my own laundry detergent, why couldn't I concoct, say, some dishwasher detergent? Turns out, the two main ingredients you need make the laundry detergent  - Borax Powder and Washing Soda - are also the main ingredients in dishwasher soap! So if you're making one, you might as well make the other. Again there are many versions of this posted on the internet, but  check out this recipe. I used FruitFresh for the citric acid. I also saw one recipe that suggested you add a squirt of Dawn liquid, then mix it in, so I did. It smells great, but of course the liquid makes the mixture want to clump up. You can bust the clumps with a fork before adding to the detergent compartment. (I probably won't add the Dawn next time.) So far it seems to work great. And again - it's so... cheap!  Have you priced dishwasher detergent? Especially those pods or tablets? Crazy expensive.

BREAD. I've been making my own bread for ages... people go crazy for homemade bread but really, it's so easy to make. (It's like that commercial from a few years ago, where the mom makes Rice Krispies treats, then splashes flour onto her face so everyone thinks she slaved for hours in the kitchen when in fact she never broke a sweat.)

I came upon this no-knead recipe a few years ago and it's my favorite when I want a crispy crust. Only drawback is, you need to plan ahead so there's plenty of rising time. Also, I would suggest that you not use a Pyrex bowl in that hot of an oven. Have you ever had one of those babies shatter? BAD NEWS. Instead, invest in a cast-iron dutch oven with a lid... watch the department store sales, or try off-price stores such as TJ Maxx or Ross. It's worth having one just for the bread, but you can make all kinds of other things in it too.

A few weeks ago, I discovered this recipe for peasant bread. It's another no-knead recipe, and it can be made in just a couple of hours. Instead of a crisp crust, it comes out softer. It tastes great! This recipe also calls for Pyrex bowls, but the oven isn't as hot for as long as it is for the Rocket Bread recipe. Don't be scared by how long the blog post recipe appears to be; it's super-easy to make.

I don't have the exact cost figures but you can make rolls or bread at home for a fraction of the cost of what you pay retail. And if you ask me, homemade bread is just better.

YOGURT. Seriously. I saw this making the rounds and wondered, could I really make my own yogurt? Turns out you can, in a crock pot. It's ridiculously easy and it tastes really good! And it's got to be less expensive than buying all those little cups of it... and if you aren't buying those, you aren't throwing them away, which is good for the Earth.  You can even strain it to separate out the whey, and you end up with a thick, Greek-style yogurt. YUM.

If, like me, you are intrigued about whether to buy something or try to make it yourself, you might want to check out these blog posts, written by Amy Keyishian (who happens to be a Facebook friend of mine), wherein she tackles not only making yogurt (cheaper than buying!), but also whether or not to buy or make your own candy corn (buy!) or pie crust (make; duh!). 

I'm not sure what I'll tackle next. I don't see myself making my own wine - though when I was a kid, a guy used to come collect pears that had dropped from our trees so he could make his own pear wine. And I have friends who brew their own beer, so I can just go drink theirs. I'd love your suggestions - leave 'em in the comments!