there is a lot of discussion lately surrounding marissa mayer’s decision to discontinue the work from home policy at yahoo!

people both for and against the decision have stated their case ad nauseum, so i won’t do that here. (for the record i support marissa’s decision.) but one thing i wanted to comment on are the comments on marissa having a nursery in her office. they claim the ban on working from home is an attack on working parents—mostly working mothers—and that it’s unfair that she gets to take care of her child while other yahoos can’t.

but think about your own organization. how many perks do the people above you in the hierarchy get?

private jets?

company-issued smart phones?

better computers?

the ability to expense certain items you can’t?

in any hierarchical structure, the people at the top get more than the people at the bottom. that’s part of what drives people to reach those upper echelons. bigger offices, fancier conference rooms, personal assistants. if you’re not going to storm the castle in disgust at your own organization’s leadership for taking advantage of opportunities that you don’t get, then perhaps we should be a little more lenient towards marissa mayer.

it’s just the perks of being a CEO.