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There are a number of myths and misconceptions associated with telecommuting. Here are a few examples:

Telecommuting is a good idea for women with families, but other employees are unlikely to take advantage of this option. While telecommuting certainly is a positive option for both women and men with young families and can be a great addition to any company’s work/life practices, telecommuting should not be considered a childcare option. Employees of both sexes, with or without families, can benefit from telecommuting.

Employees will be too isolated and will become alienated from the team. The fear of isolation is an issue for employees; it is also a concern for employers. Isolation may be a misconception, however. A study by Charles Grantham of the Institute for the Study of Distributed Work indicated that virtual office workers spend 43 percent of their time interacting with other workers. Sixty-one percent reported that they contacted their coworkers two or more times a day, and 94 percent checked in three or more times a week.

While there is certainly potential for isolation when employees are working from remote locations and are not physically located near coworkers, isolation is not a certainty. Much can be done to ensure that there is regular and meaningful contact between the telecommuter and other team members.

If an employee wants to telecommute, they’ll be out of the office five days a week. Telecommuting isn’t necessarily an all-or-nothing proposition. While some employees do literally work in a remote location eight hours a day, five days a week, arrangements are varied and dependent upon the employee’s — and the employer’s — unique needs. In fact, according to Telecommute America, a nonprofit organization that promotes telecommuting, telecommuters work an average of only 19.3 hours a week from home.

If I let one employee telecommute, I’ll have to let all employees have the opportunity. Not every job is appropriate for telecommuting and neither is every employee. Jobs, for example, that require frequent face-to-face interaction with internal or external customers are obviously not right for telecommuting. Similarly, employees who require direct supervision or who have not demonstrated a high level of competency would not be good candidates for such an arrangement.

The bottom line is that the decision must be made by the company and by the manager. With a telecommuting program, you make no guarantees that everyone can be a telecommuter. Part of the process is establishing clear guidelines, standards, and policies.

Everyone will want to telecommute and there will be nobody left in the office. Just as you may not want certain employees to telecommute, you will have employees who prefer the standard workplace environment. Many employees enjoy the social aspects of work. They like the interactions with others, and the opportunity to leave home and enter a different environment. For those people, telecommuting is unlikely to become a preferred option. As a manager, you are in control of how you staff your department. There are some managers of workforces comprised entirely of telecommuters — in fact, the manager may be a telecommuter too. There are others who, for whatever reasons, do not find that telecommuting is a viable option. And there are many, many more who find that the right solution is somewhere in between. Ultimately, though, you are responsible for staffing your workforce to provide the optimum service to your internal and external customers.

Only big companies are involved in telecommuting. Not true. In fact, a survey by Telecommute America showed that 65 percent of the respondents that participated in telecommuting were from companies with fewer than 100 employees. Telecommuting runs the gamut from small firms with only a handful of employees to multi-national firms. It’s not size that matters — it’s process and service.

It is too difficult to manage telecommuters. In fact, telemanagers and the companies they work for consistently say that good managers are good managers, regardless of whether they’re managing someone in the office or from a remote location. The skills are the same.