Is this telecommuting bad for my career?

I’m sure it’s a nagging doubt for many people who work from home; am I damaging my career by doing this?

NetworkWorld has an interesting article: Telecommute. Kill a career?

Employees who frequently telecommute may damage or kill their chances to advance within a particular career.

Over 60% of 1,320 global executives surveyed by executive search firm Korn/Ferry International said they believe that telecommuters are less likely to advance in their careers in comparison to employees working in traditional office settings. Company executives want face time with their employees, the study said.

That’s an interesting statistic, but should I be worried by it? I don’t think so. There are a lot of factors to advancing a career:

• Industry Culture
• Organisation Culture
• Geographic Culture
• Personal attitude
• Flexibility
• Relationships
• Role

I think that these all have a far greater impact on my career advancement than whether I’m working in an office or not.

In my personal situation I am daily working with people in more than one location – so who would I go and sit with?

There is more than one person who influences my advancement in the organisation, they are located in different places – so who would I go and sit with?

If I’m required for a meeting, I travel to the meeting.

If I want to speak to someone I see what their availability is by using the corporate IM solution (SameTime), I do this whether I am in the office or working from home.

I have as good, if not better, access to all of the facilities I need from home.

In other words, my assessment is that taking all things into account, where I work isn’t an issue.

The report then goes on to talk about the feeling of inclusion and team. I must admit that if there was one thing I would change about working from home it would be that.

In the 2005/2006 National Technology Readiness Survey, released in June, 25% of 1,015 respondents said they have supportive employer telecommuting policies or jobs that would allow work from home. Yet fewer than half of those who could feasibly telecommute would choose to do so more than two days per week, according to the survey by the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and technology research firm Rockbridge Associates.

I think we are increasingly going to see people work from home on occasion, and that it will actually become the norm.

I also think that we are going to see other forms of social interaction that caters for people who primarily work from home. A couple of times a month I meet for lunch with a couple of other colleagues. We primarily talk work but without a set agenda. The main role of the lunch is to interact.