I found this survey done by Mashable to be very interesting. For years I wondered if the advertising business would ever accept working remotely.  Granted for many of those years, the technology was not advanced enough.  But as a working mother, having the option to work remotely when necessary would have been a savior.

I am happy by the statistics cited in this survey.  I strongly believe that if an individual is motivated and disciplined, working remotely can be very productive.  There are a few key requirements though.

• There must be stated job goals and expected work output
• With that, there must be frequent check-ins with managers to determine if the situation is working
• It should feel seamless that an individual is working at home, particularly to clients and others outside the office.

Instances when it doesn’t work as well:

• Internal Meetings:  Having participated in meetings from a remote location as well as when someone else is participating remotely, it is very difficult (almost impossible) to be as effective if you are all not in the same room
• As a Manager:  Working remotely is fine once and a while, but not more times out than in. You can’t be a good manager if you aren’t there.  Your team can’t observe you as one way to learn, and you can’t really evaluate them if you aren’t together enough.  Obviously there are exceptions here.  But again, the key is to think it through and set up check-in points to determine if it is working for all.

I think this trend will continue and hopefully it will make for a happier workforce.