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Yelp closes 3 U.S. offices as it shifts to remote work

Yahoo Finance Live's Rachelle Akuffo and Dave Briggs talk about Yelp's pivot towards work from home as it closes several U.S. offices, and their preferences on workplace environments.

Video transcript

RACHELLE AKUFFO: Online review company Yelp is shuttering its offices in Chicago, New York, and DC, as the company shifts to remote work. In a blog post, the Yelp CEO said that they've come to realize that, quote, "The future of work at Yelp is remote," as it's been using less than 2% of its major office space on a weekly average. The CEO also noted that Yelp has proven it can be successful in a remote-only environment, as it achieved record revenue of over a billion dollars in 2021. What are your thoughts on this? A lot of us are wondering, is remote work over? But then now you have companies like Yelp.

DAVE BRIGGS: That stat, 2% utilization of their space in DC, Chicago, and New York, that is a startling statistic. I do not think that represents most major corporations. So for them, it was a no brainer in those three cities. They are going to keep the majority of their offices open. The other number that really stood out to me here is their employees at least claimed-- and I'd love to hear what you people have to think about this. 87% of Yelp employees claim they are more productive working from home.

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Now I'm curious what you think because you do work from home. I find working from home completely counterproductive. I am 20% as productive working at home as I am here in an office, where your energy level is up, you're surrounded by coworkers. You're communicating and you're forced to stay on task. Whereas at home, there's a yard, there's kids, there's a dog. What's your take on that, the productivity angle of it?

RACHELLE AKUFFO: So, honestly, during, like, the school year, it was easier. Everyone was at school. I could just focus and work. When they're home and they want your attention and you have all these different distractions, it can be difficult to sort of dedicate that time and that space. But then I feel like when it's just purely remote work, sometimes you don't really get a sense of the company culture. Like, if you're hired purely remote, you'll never get to know what it was like to work at Yelp sort of in its heyday, with, like, the company culture. So I think that part--

DAVE BRIGGS: How do you climb the ladder when you're working from home, if you're not--

RACHELLE AKUFFO: I'm not sure.

DAVE BRIGGS: --in front of the boss, if you're not interacting with people?

RACHELLE AKUFFO: Well, then, you have to be that annoying person who's always, like, chiming in on, like, the Zoom [INAUDIBLE].

DAVE BRIGGS: Ah.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: Just to make your presence felt.

DAVE BRIGGS: Nobody likes that person.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: You know? But then you feel bad for them because it's like, well, they want to get to know everybody and have their--

DAVE BRIGGS: Right, we need a nickname for that person.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: No.

DAVE BRIGGS: The person who tries to dominate the Zoom. And you wonder, are those people that are just less inclined to jump in and be loud on a Zoom, are they going to be hurt by this? Look, I'm Team Elon on this. I believe that because of the economic conditions, we are going to be forced back into the office. Not 100%, but far more than the sub 40% that we've seen thus far.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: We'll have to see, though, because some of these mandates, they don't work. So we'll just have to see.