The Telecommuter Manifesto

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photo credit: IRRI Images

Despite all the progress telecommuters have made in becoming an accepted form of employee, some coworkers still don’t get it.  Whether by jealousy or ignorance, they just don’t seem to give you the respect you deserve.  You can call and email to your heart’s content and still not get the desired response from people of this persuasion.  A useful tactic in this situation is to employ an on-site goon.

That’s the term I use to describe someone physically located at the work site who can be used to do your bidding.  I don’t intend this as a disparaging remark and hold my on-site goons in the highest regard.  These people can be subordinates or colleagues of equal status, though the former is the more likely case.  It is important that your on-site goon has some standing though, or else they will not be taken seriously.

An on-site goon is used as your proxy in situations where a physical presence can help a problem to be resolved most efficiently.  If I am dealing with someone who is notoriously bad at responding to email and voice mail, I’ll send my on-site goon to meet them face to face.  This also works well when action is required on the factory floor, in a distant lab, etc where phone or email communication is lacking.  I even send my goons to meetings that I will attend (through teleconference) to read faces and non-verbal reactions for me.  This is the type of valuable information that cannot be assessed from afar.

For whatever reason, some people respond best when action is taken in person.  To reduce the frequency of trips to the office, I leverage my on-site goons whenever possible.  By delegating this one aspect of my job that cannot be done remotely, I retain much of the authority and power that I have in the office, without actually having to be there.

This post was chosen as one of the 50 Must-Reads for Job Hunters, Telecommuters and Freelancers at FoundValue.