Every time someone mentions that he will work from home instead of being in the office, I get visions of the Dilbert comic in which Dilbert is walking around in his bathrobe, unshaven while telecommuting. I know, my bad. I have got to have more faith in humanity and find a cure for my cartoon-operated mind.

Nevertheless, when one of my team members is asking if he or she is allowed to work from home, I have the bath-robe flash. And the answer is not an immediate “yes” (unless the request is for one afternoon). I know of all the great benefits telecommuting has (assuming telecommuting is used as a employment benefit and not to reduce labor cost):

• Flexibility
• Degree of self autonomy
• Increases the productivity
• Solution to child and elderly care
• Reduced commuting time
• Saved cost in company real estate
• Reduction of absenteeism

All in all [TAG-Tec]motivational[/TAG-Tec] factors for the employee, and some cool benefits for the company.

But not everything can be fine and dandy. Otherwise I should not have any doubts. There are problems associated with working at home:

• Boundary control: boundary control is the ability of a manager to affect how an employee divides their time between work and non-work.
• Isolation: there is a tendency for full-time telecommuters to quickly feel a sense of alienation due to their isolation from fellow workers and the organization.

How do you counter those problems? Is it just a matter of trust and having the right collaboration tools? It cannot be that simple.

Bas de Baar helps people find ways to enjoy the diversity of human interaction in their organizations so that they can get out of their own way and achieve their goals. - Telecommuting: Just A Matter Of Trust? is a post from: Project Shrink.