Development of Non‐traditional Work Sites: The Challenge of Telecommuting

The growth of telecommuting is occurring at an ever‐expanding rate and bringing with it the challenge to organizations to enhance development opportunities for both telecommuters and their managers. Reports a survey of the use of telecommuting by a sample of 91 companies among the top 1,000 firms in Canada. Found that telecommuting is typically introduced for reasons of economic efficiency, and little thought is given to the development needs of telecommuting employees despite a clear need for telecommuting expertise. Concludes that telecommuting will bring significant changes in management‐employee relationships and the need for new designs in human resource development programmes.