Two recent stories in the media that maintained that telecommuters are less likely to get promoted than their non-telecommuting coworkers (Telecommuting Holds Back Careers, eWeek and The Importance of Being There, BusinessWeek) sparked a spirited discussion among the NewWOW community. This is an edited excerpt from the discussion:
From the initial post:
Working remotely may be ideal for your lifestyle but you can't phone in real leadership, say columnist-couple Jack and Suzy Welch in their April 16 BusinessWeek column, The Welch Way. They warn: “Telecommuting could be a total disaster, especially if you want to climb the corporate ladder.”
Comment:
Their perspective seems to reflect that of the "Traditionalists" who are typically cynical about non-traditional ways of working. They have a black/white understanding of the workplace, which is to say, they still think it's a physical place, and that if you're not there, you're not really "hard at work". This is rapidly becoming a rather quaint view of how, when, where work gets done in the 21st century, and how people exert their "presence" and influence. I sense that Jack and Suzy are a bit out-of-touch on this one.
Comment:
We know that most people benefit most, and most desire, the ability to work from other locations some of the time. The ability to make good choices about place of work cannot possibly diminish leadership possibilities, and probably increases them because it allows a person or manager to interact with people around the world rather than simply very locally. It seems to be a huge challenge to get people to understand that working from home is not an all or nothing proposition; it is one possibility among many.
Comment:
Just looking at the Welchs’ comment on the surface, it is as if they expect that all those who will determine an organization’s next generation of leaders are themselves in a single office all day looking across some mythical floor watching for qualities to emerge from potential leaders at any time of the day. In fact, what they really look at – in addition to substance -- is the behavior of people at meetings, in one-to-one conversations when they are at meetings or otherwise interacting with people -- whether that is in physical place or in a virtual domain.
