Never let the subject of this post be a questioned aimed at you just because you’re telecommuting. The out-of-sight-out-of-mind phenomenon is one you must work extra hard to thwart when you are working from home. If your boss has a question about your product or project and he needs to get an answer quickly - just because you’re not there physically is no excuse for not being there virtually.

If your boss can’t track you down he’s going to have to start going to someone else.  If the question is very specific to your area of responsibilities it should be obvious why this is bad for your career. But even if he has a general question that your coworker can answer just as easily as you can, you don’t want your boss only coming to you as a last resort. You don’t want to be the last person your boss (or peers for that matter) goes to because you’re not as easy to find. This is the beginning of a slow, gradual decline of your involvement in the team. You will no longer be as involved in the interconnections between your projects/products and your teammmates. You will no longer be given the good assignments. You will no longer be at the top of your boss’s mind when he’s thinking who to promote or give an expanded role to.

Since people can’t talk to you face-to-face, one of their best options is to talk to you by phone. But they need to be able to find you by phone. Does your company have a corporate directory in which people can look up each other’s phone number? If so one option is to list your home work phone line in that (if you have the ability to change it). If not, does your work phone have the ability to be forwarded? If so, forward it to you home work line. In other words, make it effortless for people to find you.

If you go back and forth between telecommuting and coming into the office, then change the number in the corporate directory or turn the call forwarding on and off each day. Sure, this may take a minute of your time. But the last thing you want to do is give your home work number out to your boss and coworkers and tell them that on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other Friday they should use that instead of your office number. Do you think with everything else they have to worry about that they’ll remember these instructions? And what happens every time you modify your schedule?

No, don’t let yourself be hard to reach. When it comes to your boss and coworkers you do not want to make your telecommuting arrangement cause extra effort for them.

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