Telecommuting harmful to the office-bound?

Here’s one from the Department of Contrarianism: According to a recent study at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, too much telecommuting by some hurts the morale of those back in the office. This is relevant to IM and unified messaging, as these are among the technologies most often cited as effective enablers of telecommuting. The argument is that there may be some sense of unfair benefit/flexibility to the telecommuters, and that there is an erosion of social interaction and, I guess, fun at work. IMO, you probably shouldn’t be looking for work to provide you with your social outlet, but I’m probably just being a grump.

In all seriousness, however, I would predict that telecommuting will become the norm not the exception over the coming decade. It’ll likely go even further, where flexible time and “fractime” (fractional time) become the norm.

~ by Eric Kristoff on January 13, 2008.