I've been a remote employee for the last three years. Two years prior I worked in the office every single day (same job, same company). Circumstances changed over the years, and I went from having a local team with local managers, to having a remote manager, to having a remote team.

There are many MANY adjustments one has to make when they become remote - but over time it becomes second nature. Setting up a separate office - with a door, setting up specific times when you will be "at work" (for instance, when my IM is on - typically from 9am until 5pm, I'm at work and I'm available until I log off in the evening). We have to make ourselves more flexible and understanding to those who aren't remote, and we have to be the squeaky wheel, sometimes reminding everyone else of our existence. Not because we aren't doing our job, but because it's easy to ignore the person who isn't there (and isn't making themselves heard).

Certainly having remote employees won't work in every scenario, but the biggest challenge I've run into by *being* remote? Working with the non-remote employees. Those who say things like "if only you were here I could just show you what I'm talking about." Not like an emailed screenshot and a phone call couldn't do the trick, but the non-remote employee is often times "lazy" -- in that they've never *had* to communicate more efficiently -- so they just choose not to. As a remote employee, I've had to learn to communicate on a higher level. This is something I've had to learn, but once you've done it for awhile you do get the hang of it. If only everyone in the company was forced to do the same.

What I found most troublesome about your article were the fears that you continue to perpetuate about working with remote employees: they're on the verge of leaving the company, they aren't working as hard, the rest of the company thinks they watch TV all day, etc. This HAS to come from the top down. If the managers are putting these fears out there, it only makes sense that the rest of the team would pick up on it.

If the remote employee a good worker, they'll do just as well for you (if not better) outside the office than inside a cube. These days the world is flat - and getting flatter. It might benefit everyone involved if the skills to working with remote employees/consultants/clients were fostered, rather than feared.

Great article - love the conversation that's stemmed from it!