MNN - Mother Nature Network

When Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer banned telecommuting, proponents of the mobile workforce were up in arms, including yours truly. When Best Buy followed suit, I started to wonder if we might be witnessing the start of a trend. In the middle of these two telecommuting bans, I was pleased to see that General Mills received recognition for its flexible work options from Business Insider.

 

Business Insider published a list of the 50 Best Employers in America and recognized 18 of these companies for offering amazing employee perks; General Mills was among the 18 receiving recognition. Employees can take advantage of flexible start and end times and even telecommute if the position allows it.  

 

Employees at the corporate headquarters can also take advantage of the Flexible User Shared Environment (FUSE) program. The FUSE program encourages employees to work from wherever they want inside the corporate headquarters. If a General Mills employee would rather curl up on a cozy couch instead of sit inside a stuffy office, she is encouraged to do so.  

 

Yahoo was also recognized as a company providing amazing perks to its employees. We now know that telecommuting soon won't be a Yahoo perk, but employees can take advantage of an on-site fitness center that offers yoga, Pilates and even golf lessons. Another perk cited by Business Insider is the comfortable ergonomic office chairs; this is good news for Yahoo employees who are used to working from a cozy lounger.

 

Fitness-oriented perks are a common theme among the companies on this list. Other companies that offer on-site fitness facilities include 3M, Chesapeake Energy, Cisco Systems and Google.

 

After the telecommuting ban brouhaha, I’m curious, would you take a great workplace perk over the option of working from home? I know that I’d prefer to telecommute, regardless of how many workplace perks a company offers.