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Yahoo’s recent anti-telecommuting decision has thrown the practice into the spotlight, but IT recruiters have been debating its merits for years.  IT staffing firms are often given IT jobs to fill that provide options for IT consultants to telecommute.  The benefits are numerous for IT staffing companies, IT contractors, and companies.  Costs are saved for companies when they don’t have to supply water, heat/electricity, food, and other expenses to their employees.  Additionally, if many studies are to be believed, the productivity of workers is higher when they are allowed to telecommute.  IT recruiting firms also encounter arguments counter to telecommuting including that productivity does not go up, collaboration and creativity or work product suffer, and IT managers feel a general lack of control.

While most of the perceived benefits and detractors of telecommuting are obvious (particularly in the information technology field), a more subtle element in the debate is how feminist or family friendly the practice is. Especially with Mayer’s recent policy change at Yahoo, how telecommuting affects men and women with child-rearing needs becomes a prominent part of the debate.  IT recruiting agencies have often marketed IT jobs with flexible hours and telecommuting policies to women and men with family obligations.  IT professionals with families often appreciate the chance to telecommute so they are able to spend more time at home.  When telecommuting is cut, it can be seen as a blow to families and women (who tend to elect to work in flexible arrangements for child-rearing purposes more often than men).  When Mayer, a prominent woman in a male-dominated field who just recently had a child of her own cuts telecommuting, the move becomes a very complex discussion of how technical recruiters and their clients are or are not doing enough for women and families.