You don't have tangible separation. It is very tempting for highly motivated people to just work all the time. The company gives the workers laptop computers, cell phones, pagers, an extra phone line at home and software that allows them to have one phone number follow them anywhere. She is IBM's geographic services executive for Florida. IBM's mobile workers typically spend a day a week at a company office where they have to reserve cubicle space, three days at a customer site and a day or two in a home office.
People know when they are hired if telecommuting is part of the job.
If we're having a conference call, it doesn't matter where I'm sitting. I've had them at my daughter's school. Howard estimates she works 45 to 50 hours a week, including from 9 to 11 p.m. four days a week, time when the kids are in bed, the house is quiet and she isn't interrupted by phone calls or e-mail. Adjusting to telecommuting took a while, though. That's difficult to do when it's three steps away.