Telecommuting: Can It Work?

I love the idea of curling up on the couch in my pajamas, laptop in hand, and getting my work done from the comfort and convenience of my own home. I’d save myself a ton of money in gas. I’d avoid my biggest downer of the day, rush hour traffic. And the best part of all is that I wouldn’t have to bother trying to look presentable. No one’s going to see me anyway, so who cares?

With technology constantly advancing, telecommuting is becoming more and more common. Employees love it! The problem is that many employers are uncomfortable with it.

Why?

Lack of trust. Because they can’t physically see their employees, employers aren’t always confident that they’re really doing what they’re supposed to be doing. Can you blame them though? Telecommuting abuse happens. It should be clear, however, whether or not employees are meeting previous levels of productivity. Are they submitting the same amount of work? Are they meeting the same deadlines?

If you don’t trust an employee enough to get his or her work done from home, then don’t allow it. If an employee you thought you trusted isn’t keeping up with his or her work load, then give telecommuting the ax. But if employees are maintaining productivity, I see no reason why employers can’t be at least a little accommodating. I understand that there’s value to having employees physically in the office, but telecommuting doesn’t have to be an all day, every day thing. Maybe one employee works from home on Fridays, while another does it Monday and Wednesday mornings.

Telecommuting may require a shift in management style, but that’s just one of the kinks that employers and employees need to work out as the trend continues to grow. The bottom line is that for telecommuting to work, the employer needs to trust the employee, while the employee needs to earn that trust and keep up with his or her work to maintain it.