Managing from Afar: Performance and Rewards in a Telecommuting Environment

Off-site work arrangements are becoming the norm. Through technological advances, companies are able to create networks of managers, customers, suppliers, and production and service workers that literally span the globe and the clock. Under the old model, employees reported to a central location where their bosses could observe their work; they were all subject to the same rules; and their pay was primarily contingent on the amount of time they spent working. Under the new model, work arrangements are flexible and unique to the organization and, correspondingly, pay must be contingent on employees' contributions, not time spent at the office, and managers must change their outlooks on organizing and valuing work.