Why telecommuting just might kill your career prospects

Telecommuting Killing Job Prospects

Based on my expereince (19 years), in most U.S. companies, there is very little advancement opportunities because managers get comfortable with an employee doing a good job that would be hard to replace. Telecommuting contracts vs. fulltime corporate employment -- I'll take contract employment any day. Besides, you get paid for every hour you work, which is usually a bit more than 40 hours per week. Salary employees get taken advantage of because they work long hours for no more pay.

I worked for a division of

I worked for a division of GE for more than twenty years and for the last five years of my career, I telecommuted. Much of our work involved teleconferencing with other divisions and with subcontractors and customers. Whether I was at the company offices or at my home office made little difference. Climbing the corporate ladder was never one of my goals. Enjoying my current work role and my family life were my top priorities. My coworkers knew they could easily reach me as I was always at my desk.

Ok, so Jack Welch is saying

Ok, so Jack Welch is saying he always met face to face for every meeting? GE is a big company and I'm betting there was a lot of correspondence without face to face meetings. There always has been and always will be in large organizations, it just not recognized as telecommuting.

Even small companies with branch offices in reality are engaged in “telecommuting". For example, my boss does not believe in working from home or teleworking (for the sake of a better term), but he and I are separated by several hundred miles. What does he think we are doing now? If I'm home or in the office it doesn't really make much difference if the work gets done.

Yes there is a place for face to face meetings, such as when you are dealing with clients and major business issues, but that's common sense.

If you want to get ahead based on who you know, go to those endless boring meetings so you can impress your boss. If you want to get ahead based on your ability/skills teleworking won't hurt (unless someone takes credit for your work at one of those face to face meetings you don't attend). Real bosses see through the BS anyhow.

I'm with Lori.

I'm with Lori. Telecommuters may not be climbing the corporate ladder straight up, but they are scrambling up the corporate mountain, looking for toeholds and places to hammer in a pylon, and moving up requires you to move sideways. We have to look carefully at each career move, but so does everyone else. When Welch was young you could join a company out of high school or college, and expect to stay with it for your entire career, expect to work hard and be rewarded. Those days are long gone.

Today everyone has two jobs, doing the work they get paid to do and managing their career.

Sorry, I have to disagree

Sorry, I have to disagree with Lori. Nothing takes the place of a face-to-face business relationship, no matter how high the quality of the HD video. Just like watching a sporting event or performance on TV can never replace the impact of actually experiencing being there.

There is a revolution in how

There is a revolution in how work is getting done. I anticipate that it won't be long before upper management in corporations catches up with the times. Some face to face time will always be a good thing. But there is a lot to be said for video conferencing.

Depends on who you work

Depends on who you work with. I have been on some teams that live by e-mail, and others that can't decide how much sugar to put in their coffee unless a quorum meets face to face. I just turned down a job where my potential boss's boss bragged up the pizza party he threw for the team because he made them all be there for DST. Look for a team with the work style you like.