A Mixed Bag for Telecommuting

This report on a couple of recent studies of the impact of telecommuting has a number of good factoids that may be of interest. Like, one study found "an almost unanimous belief that the benefits of [telecommuting programs] far outweigh their costs."

But also important are the concerns that these studies found around managers' abilities to manage their remote and otherwise flexed-out workers. Many felt that they didn't have the tools to measure the impact of their telecommuting programs. Even more troubling, telecommuting programs often didn't extend across the whole organization, relying on particular managers, particular job functions, and with little systematic control or evaluation.

The good news: This problem is easily solved. Just set a company-wide policy and put into place an evaluation plan that will let you measure the impact of your fabulous telecommuting policy.

Easy as eating pie.