Telecommuting Challenges

  • Corporate culture. Offices are a place to share ideas and to socialize. Telecommuters have a harder time learning the ‘IBM’ or ‘Quality Plus Engineering’ way.
  • Loyalty. Workplace relationships such as loyalty and allegiance may wane.
  • Communication. Face-to-face communication and understanding may wane in telecommuting.
  • Access. People-to-people communication provides the resources to getting things done. Telecommuting doesn’t provide the urgency to get things done.
  • Managerial control. Out-of-sight – out of mind. Managers feel uncomfortable if they don’t have face time with a team member or subordinate.
  • Access to resources. Offices are often situated near physical work artifacts, such as file cabinets, books, and product examples. Telecommuters sometimes can’t access these.

Corporate structure. Office, vehicles, and parking spaces communicate status and authority. Virtual enclaves have few of these.

 

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