Two months after a leaked Yahoo internal memo banning employees from working from home caused an uproar, Chief Executive Marissa Mayer has finally broken her silence over the controversial policy.
Fortune reports that at a Los Angeles conference for human resources professionals on Thursday, Mayer defended the move, which she called the "elephant in the room."
The 37-year-old told the audience of HR professionals that while "people are more productive when they're alone...they're more collaborative and innovative when they're together. Some of the best ideas come from pulling two different ideas together." Mayer held up Yahoo's new weather app as an example of what can happen when workers collaborate together in person.
In Mayer's widely talk about memo she wrote: “To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices." This decision caused an uproar, both within the company and from the public. Mayer was especially criticized when it was revealed that she had a nursery built in her office, a luxury that most working parents cannot afford.
Mayer, who was a star at Google before leaving in 2012, has been closely watched over the past year as she struggles to turn around the flailing internet giant. Still the company is still struggling to mount its turnaround; selling ads continues to be a weakness.