They may feel and actually be 'out of the loop' of office politics because they lack a physical presence in front of their colleagues and superiors. As Woody Allen once observed, sometimes the most important thing in life is just showing up. Additionally, not all telecommuting workers are conscientious about doing their work. Without the supervision of a living, breathing manager they may use the extra freedom to slack in their duties, and unless an effective monitoring program is in place, workers at home may cost the company money. They may even be less productive, relatively speaking, than they would be in the office because of the lack of a motivational presence of colleagues, whose input and socially facilitating team spirit can encourage productivity.

Call centers are another way in which companies have used technology to reduce labor costs. In this case, the company usually employs workers in countries with less expensive sources of labor to answer questions about a product or service. This can be beneficial for the workers living in countries such as India or other areas of the developing world, as they have access to what is for them better-paying jobs (or simply, jobs in general) not provided by the local economy.

However, the separation from the company's core corporate headquarters and culture can encourage workers to be less loyal and slack in their duties once again. The fact that the workers come from a different business culture than the U.S. employees may further make the creation...

Managers are simply not 'there,' ensuring that the work is being done in a specific manner. Customer relationships may be another issue -- no matter how well trained, foreign call center employees may lack the intuitive sense of how to relate to American callers, and present an inconsistent 'face' for the company that is contrary to its desired image.
For example, in some countries it might not be expected to give slightly confused customers extra attention and elderly or inexperienced customers may be treated brusquely in the interests of efficiency. Quality control monitoring can contain this to some degree, but customers may still be alienated and lost. Additionally, confusion may not be the fault of the call center employee alone -- customers may have difficulty penetrating local accents and call center employees may find themselves with the daunting task of explaining highly technical material in their second language, to customers who know little about technology.

On paper, telecommuting and making use of call centers seems like an ideal solution to many of the social problems and costs of modern commerce. But in their execution, complications invariably ensue. The nature of the work, the characters of the employee, the compatibility of the call center's culture, and the suitability of the product to outsourced labor must all be evaluated when reviewing the costs and benefits of these approaches.