My colleagues are all over the country and we cannot possibly justify the expense of meeting face-to-face. It has therefore become necessary to sharpen my consulting skills through teleconferencing and online web tools, and I'm glad I did. I think this is a marketable skill that is here to stay.

Why would we want to telecommute and save gas, money, time, the environment, etc. when we can show our loyalty to the boss by groveling in person??

LOL

Wrong! I have been a successful remote worker for 12+ years. I have consistently been a top-rated performer. And, lest you say, I've performed well but failed to share my knowledge, skills and abilities with others, I now manage the team and we are highly successful in our organization. My team is completely remote (13 people in 11 states and two countries) and we are the highest performing team in the org.

This article speaks to the limited communication abilities of the author rather than the thesis he argues. Telecommunting works when management communicates effectively and the team buy into the concept.

OMG, what a bad article. I'm surprised it was actually typed? Maybe the original article was hand written. I'd be suprised if he has a computer. This guy is way off the mark. My situation is this. We are an IT firm and we support 15,000 users worldwide, 24/7. My standard hours are 8-5 and would be if I went to the bricks and mortar building every day. I myself find it more productive working from home, as my computer is always on and at 11pm at night, I can easily be chatting with a co-worker in Korea. If I went to the office everyday, the laptop would be in the bag by the door. And the wasted time in an office settings, the social copy machine chats, the break room chats, the on the way to the bathroom, stop at someones cubical chats? I don't miss those at all. It's amazing what I do observe when I do go to my office, 2-3 times a year. BUT I will say, telecommunting is not for everyone and it took me 6 months to adapt and not be distracted EASILY and ALOT of people do need that receptionist hello everyday. I've been doing it now for 5 years and have always gotten either a 1 or 2, highest ratings, on reviews, with ever increasing title changes.

Email, IM, video-conferencing and working from home are the future. Bricks and mortar buildings are the past.

The biggest issue around the whole telecommuting subject is the woefully inadequate training most managers receive in face-to-face management let alone remote workforce management. The manager of a remote workforce needs to understand the nuances of an objective-based workforce meritocracy. Clear objectives need to be set, and effective work processes put in place. Time management across time zones is a must. As the manager of a widely disbursed creative workforce, I can tell you that there was a LOT of trial and error because no one in my company had a clue about this stuff. But I now believe that the era of location-based work-groups is slowly coming to an end. I'm quite sure my grandson will someday ask me what we meant by the words "going to work."

I can only dream of the day when I can work out of my house for at least most of the time and make something out of all those dead hours when I'm sitting on my desk waiting for some order to come in. I'm always so far behind on my house work, I could catch up on that while still being available whenever I'm needed... that's what Blackberries are for!

The article containing a link to this page, "Why telecommuting doesn’t work" details why MSNBC and others are losing money and struggling to find a way to succeed in online news - they still "don't get it". Only a technological dinasaur would be so out of touch with reality to make such a sweeping generalization that "telecommuting doesn't work". It is the year 2009, open your eyes to the new workforce and businesses that telecommute successfully. This is the future.

The guy who wrote this article is stuck in the tar pits of history. Wake up to year 2009. Telecommuting is the present, and the future. You are an ignorant technological dinosaur to think otherwise.

Agreed that this is a typical point-of-view, but woefully myopic and outdated on many fronts. There are great corporate and personal/professional reasons for telecommuting.

Corporate cost savings, the environment, time/cost savings, flexibility, ability to focus, and the global world of work are just a few of the overarching reasons for telecommuting. Also, agreed with the person who said that a good worker is a good worker no matter where they work. . .and it's easier now to measure if and how a job is getting done. Perhaps in this tight job market employers can dictate more of how/where they want employees to work. . but the world is moving more and more toward a vitural environment. I would agree that face-to-face contact is important. . but meet once or twice . .and then get on with the job. Simple!!!

I work, and have worked virtually, with people all over the world for at least the past 10 years and I only see more of it. In fact, I think I have better relationships with them because we don't see each other every day. It's clean and uncomlicated by office politics. I've learned to make the time differences work for me. . . and I see the cultural differences as a learning opportunity. I see it as a big advantage today and in the future to have been able to manage projects and relationships on time and on budget from a 1/2 a world away.

Plus, on a purely personal note, I have contacts and connections all over the world which have proven to be great for traveling, advice on a particular country, contacts in their global network , etc. and to a person these people are very pleased to be helpful when talking about their home country.

The guy that wrote this article is a dinosaur and the "old-school" management style is outdated. Even in a bad economy, your employees need to be happy. Happy workers are productive workers. I left a miserable job four years ago where I was required to come in five days a week and a 90-minute commute in Atlanta traffic. When the recruiter from my current company called and offered me a position working from home, it was a no-brainer to the old school, mismanaged company and I gave them the BIG C-YA! I have been working from home for four years, extremely productive and happy, still able to connect with my co-workers across the country, and generally very happy. To the author of this stupid and outdated premise, hang up your buggy whip and stable your horses, Grandpa, we experienced a new, modern century changeover almost 10 years ago!

Some businesses don't lend themselves well to telecommuting; the author's example obviously doesn't.

Certain positions also don't lend themselves well to telecommuting.  I've been the general manager of a couple of small manufacturing companies over the years and telecommuting simply was out of the question.

However, about 6 years ago I got into a position in which I could telecommute and now I won't ever go back to working in an office full time (knock on wood).  I get more work done in 8 hours from my office at home than I ever did in 12 hours in my office at the plant.  And I average about 65 hours per week from my office at home so that's about 98 hours worth of work at my plant.  Both my income and the company's have improved dramatically, though the last 8 or 9 months have been set-backs in comparison to the periods prior.

I am firm, however, in my belief that telecommuting is not for everyone.  I know 30 or so people who still telecommute after several years.  But I also know of 10 others who did it for many months to a couple of years and were not successful with it.  In conversations with them, they all admitted that a lack of discipline in avoiding distractions and keeping a tight schedule caused them to give it up.  They aren't failures because they are thriving in their respective roles in the "regular" office environments.  In fact, I look at them as successes because they recognized their problems and corrected them.

It's not for everyone, but it certainly is for me.

Telecommuting is a viable alternative, especially in the IT World, to getting work done, without actually having to be on-site. Many an IT Job is done, even from the office, by remotely logging into a server located somewhere else in the world. In the IT World, physical location is a mute thing.

But too many Managers, insecure with their own positions in the current economic climate, are more worried about their own positions, than anything else. It's funny a year ago when gas prices were so high "Telecommuting was called Smart, and good for a companies bottom line, and it's employees." But now, in the Economic Downturn, you mention Telecommuting, and it's a quick response of "That's not possible", etc.

The truth is, if someone is not getting work done, either in the office, or at home, that becomes apparent very quickly. Companies can actually save money by employees or contractors who are willing to use their own office space, computers, phone, electricity, etc. instead of having to pay for it themselves.

People can still go into the office sometimes, or travel and get together, by that is not necessary ever day anymore. Managers, who say otherwise, are either outright lying, or really need to move into the 21st Century, and realize that in the age of the Internet, physical location is no longer relevant.

I've seen good and bad with telecommuting.  It depends on the worker, the work to be completed, and the systems the company has to support distance workers.  I don't telecommute due to the nature of my work.  However, I now work from home evenings and weekends occasionally because my company finally provided a laptop for my use at remote client sites.  I would probably do the same if I telecommuted regularly, resulting in more working hours for the company.

The author of this article is way off the mark. I took 11 months off from going to an office to be at home with my newborn and I did a teleworking job which I still do part time. The company I do work for is based in London and I am based in the United States. I did my work when my son was napping or sleeping at night and there were no issues at all.

There are companies out there like Office Depot, 1-800 Flowers, LLBean, GE Capital and many others that don't have physical call centers for their customer service staff. Their people work from home at their own desks on their own equipment with their own phones. And you would never know it when you call them.

Not all positions and not all people are suited for teleworking. For those that are, it can be an attractive benefit that a company can offer.

It's about efficient communications, building company culture and camaraderie, and sharing the daily bits of work and personal experiences that create a shared sense of purpose.

But, in my experience, even more about bosses with control need issues trying to impose their will on the unwilling.

My job is of a nature that absolutely requires my presence much of the time, but when it's not needed, I strongly resent having to be there as someone's security blanket. I've sat thru too many "mandatory monday meetings" where the boss talks about what he did over the weekend, elicits gossip, engages in some fantasy that "we're all family here," parses his most recent conversation with the president, remakes decisions of the previous week, mucks up the schedule for the upcoming week, is continually surprised to learn that the company made decisions before he blessed us with his enlightened leadership, floats preposterous excuses for his latest screw-ups, and generally demonstrates why he's a poster child for the Peter Principle.

Back in the 80's and 90's I worked for the second largest computer company in the world. In an effort to cut costs they did a two year study on telecommuting and found that the vast majority of folks actually performed better and produced more if they were allowed to telecommute. It also saved them a ton of money not having to build and maintain cubes for these folks. Managed properly, its good for the environment and its good for productivity. I can't remember the number of times I had a 'Eureka' moment at 2:00 am and was able to work on it in my PJ's in my home office.

The reasons the author of this article uses to make his case just don't hold up in most cases but its his company and he can run it the way he wants. Certainly telecommuting does not work in every case but consider this ... the Linux OS was developed by software developers from all over the world that never met. If that kind of team work can product a product like that using a telecommuting model then ... you get the point.

I suspect that in the future when more companies are having to look for ways to be more efficient and keep costs down (i.e, fuel is $5 + per gallon) for the company and the employees this will become more widely used. Of course, if one is concerned about climate change one would certainly want to do their part in keeping commuters off the already congested highways. And by the way ... the toxic fumes on highways is fully documented now to be harmful to employees health especially if they have to sit hours in stop and go traffic. That probably isn't a big issue in Montana right now but in most cities it is.

I hope some day more companies and their managers can get past their inability to manage telecommuters and do what is right for the environment, well being of their employees and in most cases improves the bottom line.

How else could i spend time screwing off and participate in this discussion?

Been there, done that...in a healthy company it certainly can and does work. However, and this is a major factor at this unfortunate time, when the company starts to falter financially telecommuting is a death knell for most employees. Having both telecommuted and reported to a brick and mortar building for the same company for the past several years, I can say that, heck yes, it's a great luxury and somewhat practical, more green, marginally more efficient, etc.. When said company starts to look from within at its practices as a matter of cutting costs, the first question marks are going to be slapped on those who are not in the office. Go ahead and say, "Oh no, not me...the execs. know exactly what I'm doing at home.". Really?!?!...Is everyone cohesively behind you and your green effort to work from home as the best thing for corporate management and identity? I busted my butt and had the numbers to prove it for years on end but the fact that I wasn't within eyesight of upper management at all times sprouted suspicion from the older hardliners in the company AND even more importantly led to their decision to outsource my job to another country with our without a stellar track record. If you think about it, if you can do your job from home why couldn't they simply move your job to another country for pennies on the dollar? Furthermore, it may be a hard sell for you to pitch to your next employer should you get outsourced when they don't know you from Adam. Food for thought... 

It really depends on your personality, if you're an extrovert who needs to be around people then telecummuting isn't for you. But if you're like me an extreme introvert who finds being around other people irratating and frustrating, (for the record introverts are not shy) then telecommuting is a lot less stressful and often leads to better productivity and better feelings about the job. But companies are all about the "team" and introverts really aren't team players. Which is why I'm working on freeing myself from the whole 9-5 corporate slave and become a writer so I can always stay home.

Thank heavens my company doesn't think the way this guy does. To each their own but for me, telecommuting is wonderful. I don't have to come up with child care, no commuting, no work wardrobe necessary! What a money saver. And with money saved, I'm in a good mood, which puts me in a great frame of mind to work.

I also have less distraction at home. No one stops by my office for an hour to chat. I don't get stuck in the kitchen catching up with someone for 20 minutes when I go to grab coffee. It's awesome! I'm so much more productive working at home than I was in the office.

And I have a great relationship with my coworkers. Three others that I work VERY closely with work from home in various cities around the country. We all have great relationships that have carried into off-work hours, and we chatter a lot on IM.

I know that not everyone is disciplined enough to work at home, but for those who are, it's a win-win situation!