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But while “telecommuting” is a term that has become increasingly familiar and a practice increasingly adopted by companies large and small, the ability to manage off-site staff is really the issue. The first edition of this book focused specifically on telecommuting; this second edition will take a broader look at the issue of managing off-site staff. The principles and practices are really the same — the terminology is just somewhat different. This shift in focus, however, broadens the value of the information in this book. Literally any manager responsible for supervising people who are located “somewhere else” can benefit from the strategies and tactics presented here.

The term “telecommuting” continues to scare many managers. The prospect of being responsible for people who are off-site is often threatening — yet also often entirely misunderstood. Consider, for example, the banking industry, which has multiple branch locations where employees may physically be located, yet they work for a manager who may be located in the corporate office. In my own experience, while working as director of corporate communications for a major, integrated health care facility in the Midwest, I was physically located in a house that had been converted to offices which housed the corporate communications department. The house was near the main facility, but quite removed from the VP I reported to. We maintained contact via phone and email and would occasionally encounter each other at meetings but, the vast majority of time, we were not physically present in the same environment. The truth of the matter was that I could literally have been located anywhere and still performed the requirements of my job to a large degree.

The point here is that telecommuting should not be a concept that is feared. It is an option available to companies today that can add flexibility and value to both employees and managers. In this revised edition we will initially explore the concept of telecommuting and its current status, but will then take a broader approach to the issue of managing off-site staff.