Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has commented on the firm's controversial ban on working on home for the first time since the policy was introduced in February.
Giving the closing keynote at the Great Place to Work conference in Los Angeles, Mayer discussed culture at Yahoo before breaking off with "I need to talk about the elephant in the room," as a large image of a purple elephant with "WFH," standing for work from home, written on its side appeared on the screen behind her.
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"It's not what's right for Yahoo right now," she said, repeating a phrase used in an internal memo on home working that was leaked in February, adding: "It was wrongly perceived as an industry narrative."
Mayer acknowledged that "people are more productive when they're alone," but insisted that the Yahoo office environment is more beneficial for the firm's employees, telling the audience "they're more collaborative and innovative when they're together. Some of the best ideas come from pulling two different ideas together."
Mayer used Yahoo's recently launched Yahoo Weather app for iOS as example of the benefit of collaboration. The application uses location tracking technology in Flickr photo albums to let users get a better idea of what local weather is like.
The idea behind Yahoo Weather, she explained, arose from two software engineers at the firm working in the same office, allowing them to originate and develop the idea.
Recent reports suggest Yahoo and Apple could soon be work more closely together, with sources close to the matter revealing Yahoo services could take a more prominent role on iPhone and iPad devices.
