I work much harder at home versus in the office. I highly doubt this study.

As both telecommuter and a member of my company's IT shop, I have seen both sides of this issue. The U.S. Air Force has developed a standard desktop for its laptop computers, allows connection to its networks only with government-owned laptops, and then only through its VPNs. Therefore, it is almost like being in the office. I use the same e-mail when telecommuting as when I am in the office, subject to the same e-mail filtering. I am protected by the same anti-virus, anti-spyware software and firewalls whether whether I am telecommuting or in the office. I am subject to the same group policies and kept from accessing the same Internet sites whether I am telecommuting or in the office.

Properly set up, telecommuting can be done without jeopardizing IT security. In the end, the question is not: Does IT security prohibit telecommuting? But rather: Do the tasks involved in the job permit telecommuting?

I believe this study. Everybody with a job or a job benefit will say anything to keep it. Telecommuting is here to stay, so no fears there. But knowledge workers need controls just like factory workers do. There are monitoring cameras in our stores and factories, for the safety of the employees and for the protection of the employer. Employers ought to monitor telecommuters PCs, not necessarily for keystrokes per minute or pageviews per hour, but at least for date and time logged into work, and URLs accessed and e-mail attachments opened or saved during work hours. What is the state of art on that for the industry today?

I get as many suspect e-mails from co-workers who are based in the office as I do from anyone else. With a standard image for software and other standard practices in an organization, working remotely should not be any more or less secure than the office environment.

As far as doing actual work--where you are doing your work has less to do with productivity, security and other concerns than whether or not you are an overall productive person. Pay attention to performance, not location.

This dynamic has existed since the beginning of time. Only now has the technology utilized changed, but the concept is the same.

What we used to call "manufacturing-mentality" workers always resented the salespeople who appeared to come and go as they pleased while they were stuck in the office. What they were missing is that with autonomy comes added responsibility. Putting in the time as opposed to getting the result is of little value today. Working at home is great, but that means that you are always at work. Companies that have problems with telecommuters are either failing to manage internal morale or hiring the wrong people.

I've worked from home for the past 10 years for a small staffing company. I am always alert to possible threats to my computer and I carefully assess every e-mail before opening it. As other people have stated, I work many more hours from home than I did when I commuted and I am just as diligent in addressing my work responsibilities as I was when I worked in the office.

Martin's sympathies are revealed by his view that employees "will say anything." This demonstrates a basic lack of trust. No disagreements with keeping track of time. But his comments invite an egregious and possibly actionable violation of personal privacy. If the company owns the PC and the employee is using a VPN -- the best management strategy anyway -- okay. Unusual events are normally pretty easy to explain and justify. If the employee is using their own PC and a VPN, it is more of a gray area. Who is going to go through all of those URL and e-mail attachment logs, and is it cost-effective to do that? (I doubt it.) The VPN can apply website filtering in accordance with company policies.

If the employee is using their own PC without a VPN, then no way. What if the employee receives an e-mail about an injury, illness, or death in the family? Work e-mail is usually more immediate than personal e-mail in time-critical situations. What if the employee receives medical test results from their physician? Would he monitor VoIP telephone traffic during working hours as well? Are employers willing to assume that kind of legal liability?

Would his post to this article violate his own company policies?

As a state service IT telecommuter, I have been proven the most productive developer in a group of 10 developers throughout my 15-yearr IT career.
I feel jealousy from my co-workers as well as my supervisor and I think because of this I am treated unfairly with regard to workload. All new development projects are assigned to me. I always have at least two projects in progress and three to four lined up waiting. I am working at home taking part in the Disabilities Act provision for reasonable accommodations. I provide all of the resources I consume in my job except the use of an under-powered notebook PC I use to write code. When I do go into the office for meetings, etc., I am harassed by fellow workers, with comments like, 'do you still work here?', 'Decided to come in huh?', 'Must be nice not having to work for a living!', etc. The state IT office I work for is a party environment for emails regarding birthdays, promotions, employees' baby showers, marriage engagements and so on. If the taxpayers knew, they would be astounded at the waste of their tax dollars. In my 15 years of state service, office productivity is at an all time low. Standing around chatting, shopping online and taking personal calls with loud talking, two-hour lunches, long walks along the riverfront are commonplace and acceptable practice.

Security is always a concern. I do not believe that users open more attachments, etc. from unknown users. IT departments must have a remote-management capability to ensure the integrity of their remote systems, regardless of standard image build. Having tools to be able to force AV scans, push patches and updates, restart services that savvy users may turn off and so on certainly helps. The key is that this must be an internet based solution, not one that functions only when logged on to the company network. Mobile workers have always been a challenge, and always will be unless I, as a manager, can reach out and remotely touch that PC, anytime, anywhere, regardless of connection to my network. With wireless connections everywhere these days, it becomes even more imperative.

Teleworking is great and its benefits outweigh the challenges.

Anyone want to bet that Cisco will come up with another "solution" for educating employees? This study sounds more like a PR release for a Cisco Security Awareness School or some other new security product than an independent study.

Ironically, the next article I clicked into on the site was about managers not paying enough attention to employee talent management.

Virtual workers have a responsibility and should be held accountable. VMs need to step forward in character an embrace the opportunity by taking this technology to the next level.

Some companies have a long way to go in not seeing employees in a physical area. But that is why we invented cameras. Today's management will require one's ability to work with VMs.

Why not have a notebook/camera/wireless/smartphone near a hot spot in a 18'ft Walleye boat fishing with your wife and closing service contracts? She gets into Bluegill, I better have lights...

all of the 'concerns' mentioned about telecommuters hold for in-office staff.

in fact, as one comment said, most office environments are full of non-work activity using company resources.

the really maddening is that the very same managers and execs who dont 'trust' telecommuters have no qualms about sending work halfway around the world to places where english is barely spoken, if at all, basic infrastrucutre (like electicity) is unreliable, and no controls are in place for intellectual property or privacy protections, just to be able to create the illusion of short term cost savings.