Employees at buuteeq Have an Awesome Travel Perk

Mitch Pittman, over at KING 5 News:

Lots of jobs have benefits: health care, paid vacation, maybe a 401k. But how about yearly all-expense-paid vacations to anywhere in the world? Perks like that are generally reserved for the world of tech start-ups, such as buuteeq, which offers that annual vacation benefit they call “Trotamundo.” The only catch, if you can even call it that, is you have to visit with three hoteliers you stay with along the way and then tell your coworkers about your experience.

​Folks, that is one great perk. Presumably, the requirement to visit hoteliers means that buuteeq can qualify some portion of the employee's vacation as a business expense (and a tax write-off). That's a good example of a win-win scenario.

By the way (in the interests of full disclosure), I happen to be friends with Lisa Tran, one of the buuteeq employees featured in the video.

'Engineering Serendipity'

Greg Lindsay, writing for The New York Times:

Silicon Valley is obsessed with serendipity, the reigning buzzword at last month’s South by Southwest Interactive Festival. The term, coined by the British aristocrat Horace Walpole in a 1754 letter, long referred to a fortunate accidental discovery. Today serendipity is regarded as close kin to creativity — the mysterious means by which new ideas enter the world. But are hallway collisions really the best way to stoke innovation?

It's tough to create an environment where creative professionals (such as developers) are highly productive. You have to hire the right team, you have to work on interesting things, and you have to figure out your workplace situation. The article covers a topic that has become de rigueur these days. It isn't enough to simply do the aforementioned steps; a company must cultivate an environment where developers meet each other in informal settings and 'talk shop', thereby generating fresh new ideas.

Google Works on Cool Stuff, Yahoo Doesn't

James B. Stewart, in a post for The New York Times:

As to the broader relationship between the workplace and creativity, “there’s some evidence that great physical space enhances creativity,” she said. “The theory is that open spaces that are fun, where people want to be, facilitate idea exchange. I’ve watched people interact at Google and you see a cross-fertilization of ideas.”

There should be little doubt that Google's perks (described in the article) make its offices more inviting to work at than the typical cube farm.​ However, let's not get carried away here. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer can add all the perks she wants and can make employees work at an office, but those don't really get to the crux of the problem that Yahoo faces in trying to remain relevant. Google employees don't enjoy going to the office because of the perks, they enjoy going to the office because Google works on cool stuff. Yahoo, unfortunately, doesn't work on cool things anymore. That's why employees can't wait to leave when 5:00 PM rolls around.

Marissa Mayer Personally Reviews Every New Hire at Yahoo

Alexei Oreskovic, in a post for Reuters:

Mayer insists on personally reviewing every new recruit, a practice that supporters say brings needed discipline to the company. Critics, however, say her high standards are hampering Yahoo's already challenged ability to fill vacancies.

​Marissa Mayer is in a tough spot. On the one hand, she knows that Yahoo must fill its job vacancies quickly enough to avoid a massive loss in productivity. On the other hand, she knows that simply filling a vacancy just to fill a vacancy would be counterproductive. It's good that she is adding some discipline to the hiring process in order to avoid making bad hires, but at the same time Yahoo isn't going to get very far in hiring good people if the process takes "eight weeks" (as it did for one individual mentioned in the post).

Interestingly enough, Mayer is apparently considering bringing some of Yahoo's jobs back to the USA from India (also noted in the post). That would go a long way towards helping to foster a more closely knit corporate culture. It would also be consistent with some of her previous decisions.​

Best Buy Handled Its Work From Home Program Change Better Than Yahoo Did

Julianne Pepitone, writing for CNNMoney about Best Buy's recent change to its work-from-home program:

Unlike Yahoo's blanket policy, Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) said some of the 4,000 non-store employees who took advantage of its work-from home program still may be able to telecommute or set flexible schedules. But as of Monday they'll no longer have the freedom to make those decisions without a manager, as they had in the past.

Yahoo made a serious misstep in how it handled the change to its work-from-home program. The now infamous internal memo detailing the change reeks of condescension, and CEO Marissa Mayer didn't do much to avoid criticism by building a nursery in her office (thus leaving her open to claims of being a hypocrite).

Best Buy, in contrast, made a smart move. It isn't eliminating the work-from-home program, but instead is restoring checks and balances to the program. It boggles the mind that employees were able to make the work-from-home decision without input from their manager. Now, at the very least, the decision will be made after a conversation with the employee's manager.​

Kudos to Best Buy for making a dramatic change without stumbling over itself (as Yahoo did).​