Isaac Asimov got there first. In The Naked Sun, he envisioned Solaria, a civilization whose telepresence technologies are as good as being face-to-face — superior, in fact, according to the Solarians, who have developed a collective phobia about breathing the same air, let alone making physical contact.
If you read some of the more enthusiastic commentary about telecommuting, you might think we’re all ready to be Solarians, only without the phobia.
In these difficult economic times, with companies grasping for any relatively painless way to save money, you’re going to be under pressure to help make the Solaria version of telecommuting happen at your company.
Sure it’s a bad idea, whether or not your employees are clamoring for it. Why do you care if they save time, money, wear and tear on their cars, psychic stress, or anything else?
If you can’t see them, they aren’t being productive and that’s all there is to it.
But in a corporation, you can’t look like you’re against progress, no matter how bad progress really is. So to help you prevent telecommuting without losing your forward-looking image, here are 10 sure-fire ways to kill telecommuting while keeping your hands clean:
1. Ignore the gaping holes in the save-big-money calculations.
Virtual enterprises save lots of cash compared to their headquarters-laden competitors. If those clamoring for telecommuting expect similar benefits — hey, you aren’t the one making promises.