Broken Ladders

As I was preparing for my first quarterly review with the President regarding my telecommuting, I found myself reflecting on the accomplishments I have made in the last four months:

• Successfully, in my opinion, operating the Research Office from 325 miles away
• Competing 65 individual research/data requests (an average of 1.5 each business day)
• Building the beta release of the Workforce Preparedness inventory
• Taking a major role in the implementation of the Informer data reporting tool for Colleague/Datatel

While each of these accomplishments are great and important to the success and progress of the college, I could not help but think about my place among these events; in particular how they impact my relationship with the institution. It was then I realized a significant downside to telecommuting: advancement. Projects requiring large-scale coordination (aka the big projects) will most likely never hit my desk due to the need for personal interactions. I will most likely never rise above the level of Coordinator, even though I have supervisory roles – a major local prerequisite for Directors. If the college moves to having more distance workers, are we creating a class of employees stymied in the career ladder due to their proximity to the rest of administration? I have to admit, there has to be a threshold where yes, one must be on campus to properly assist in the daily operations of the college.

The dilemma I face is a simple one: do I continue as long as I can at my current position, which is a job I can do with a measure of competence while working at home, or do I use these experiences to build my resume and look for local employment? Personally, I would like to work for my current college as long as I can. I know the institution, the employees, and will soon complete work on the SACS re-affirmation as a Core Team member.

I guess I will find out if there are any plans for the future at my review. I will have a report from that meeting, as well as my interview with the President regarding telecommuting in future posts.