A Better Way for HP to Boost Performance

Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Meg Whitman has rekindled the debate over whether to telecommute with a memo urging employees to show up at the office more often. She wrote that “HP needs all hands on deck” to foster engagement and collaboration during its turnaround. Whitman joins Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer in blaming telecommuting for all-too-common issues, such as silo mentality and mediocre effort, which hobble business performance. This approach is misguided and flies in the face of the laws of human behavior. What’s more, it’s likely to be counterproductive. Read my entire post at Bloomberg Business Week. See also Yahoo: Wrong Problem Wrong Solution.

Photograph by Jacob Kepler/Bloomberg