Tag Archives: online work

Does Telecommuting Make You Invisible? – Part 2

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While constantly improving technology certainly makes remote work and staying connected easier than ever, it’s still not the same as being there in person. The question is how much of a difference it makes to your standing in your company or your ability advance your career? In the previous post we talked about Camp #1 people like Deep Esophagus, who don’t think it makes much of a difference, although it does mean putting in extra effort to make sure you stay on everybody’s radar.

Seeing Is Believing

Today we’ll look at Camp #2 people, which seems to be the majority, who think that staying highly visible from a distance is the exception rather than the rule.  There is a nagging feeling that by not putting in regular face time you are relegating yourself to the edges of the picture. Indeed, Kurland and Cooper’s research suggests that Continue reading →

Does Telecommuting Make You Invisible? – Part 1

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While working remotely is gaining more acceptance in the everyday work world (Telework Research Network estimates that 20 to 30 million people work from home at least one day a week), it’s still a gray area for many workers.  One of the big worries that plagues people is how teleworking affects their career path, status, and value in a company. Research is somewhat conflicted about the actual effects on career success as well.  According to Schreiber, for woman at least, teleworking does not necessarily affect job success, while Shapiro, Ingols, and Blake-Beard find that flexible work arrangements including teleworking “are still used at great expense to an employee’s influence, reputation, and promotability.”  In either case, there are plenty of opinions on this subject and first-hand experiences, judging from this Slashdot discussion thread.

From what I can gather on the posts there seem to be 2 main camps:

  • Camp #1 – “You’re only as invisible as you choose to be”
  • Camp #2 – Invisibility is an inevitable by-product of “out of sight, out of mind”

Of course, there all the bystanders in between and the various factors like company culture, company politics, personal goals…that will affect just how visible or invisible you really are. Continue reading →