“Many companies have become prisoners of their outdated business practices and their assumptions about how work gets done. Most organizations find themselves losing ground to competitors who were not even on the map a decade ago. They’ve become victims, rather than beneficiaries, of advances in information technology. And at a time when the attraction and retention of qualified, engaged employees has become an even more critical factor in a business’s success or failure, they find themselves out of touch with a workforce that has undergone a dizzying transformation in attitudes, abilities, and ambitions.’’ — James Ware, The Search for Digital Excellence

Americans are mobile: laptops, BlackBerrys and Wi-Fi are ubiquitous in today's culture. As a result, it's understandable that telework and flexible work schedules are gaining momentum in the workplace. Telework, which these same technologies help enable, provides employees with a stronger work-life balance, lowers their commuting times and costs, and increases their productivity.

Telework is also vital to organizations for recruitment and retention efforts, business continuity and real estate cost savings. Plus, who doesn't want to be environmentally conscious?

Allowing workers to work from home has the added benefits of being "green" (think reduced carbon admissions and gas savings from not driving) and saving the average company up to $15,000 per worker on average in the following areas:

• Less Pay - Teleworkers on average are paid $5,000 to $10,000 less per year
• Real Estate Savings - Not having to provide a place for teleworkers to work saves up to $5,000 per employee per year in real estate savings.
- Not having to provide a place for teleworkers to work saves up to $5,000 per employee per year in real estate savings.
• Reduced Absentism and Higher Productivity - Teleworkers miss less work due to the flexibile schedule and tend to be more productive often working longer hours - which both translate to the bottom line to the tune of $2,500 per worker
• Employee Loyalty - Employees are more loyal and have lower turn over resulting in reduced costs for training and employee retention.
• Lower Facility Costs - Savings on maintenance, power, and other facilities cost due to use of smaller facilities.

There are many more benefits to this as well.  So why are companies reluctant to adopt Telecommuting?  Simple, read the first paragraph again.  They simply do not understand these concepts or worse fear they will not be able to control their employees.  Well, I say if you have to see someone to manage them then you are not a good manager, and secondly how do corporations with remote teleworkers manage to stay in business.  With proper policies, correct incentives, holding workers accountable, and proper management.