Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

I recently posted about the challenges and strategies needed to manage a decentralized workforce.

Last year Mercer Human Resources Consulting conducted a survey of 1043 companies that revealed that 44 per cent of U.S. companies offered a minimum of some options to telecommute. That's a huge increase of 32 per cent, from 2001.

"Jack Nilles" a corporate consultant who has been credited with originating the term "telecommuting" over 30 years ago, gives some good insight into the issue when he says that technology has never really been the reason why companies have refused to offer the more flexible work schedule, rather it goes back to the old "I've got to keep an eye on you" thought that permeates some companies to this day.

Think of it from the other perspective that 56 per cent of American companies don't offer any options of telecommuting. This is really a slow response when you think of the competitive advantage this can be for hiring purposes.

Not only has this been great for companies but some employees have said that being away from the office can actually really prime their creative juices as they are able to think outside the box better.

Others say that there is a downside in the sense that the "office" is no longer thought of as a physical place, but rather whenever people get together and communicate in some type of fashion, which results in sometimes feeling that you never leave.

Some have responded to this by simply turing off their phones at the end of the day so that they can make sure they aren't working 24/7.

They Labor Department says that this is going to be a trend that continually grows for years ahead as more people are demanding that there be flexibility offered to them. Some companies need to be more proactive in this area as they could begin to lose great employees over their lack of understanding the importance of this lifestyle.