The Manager's Dilemma
Problems with out of the office employees and contractors
Trying to manage out of the office employees and contractors, better known as field or mobile workers, is a difficult task. Even with all of the technologies that we have today, from GPS tracking devices, to mobile phones, from having cameras almost on every phone, capable of taking and sending photos and videos, and being able to communicate via phone, text messages, and a dozen messaging and phone and video conferencing apps and services, the task of managing dozens or sometimes thousands of out of the office employees is truly monumental and managers of such employees have a difficult time trying to organize or to keep their troops in line, not to mention trying to spot waste, fraud, abuse or even people "sleeping on the job". It is impossible to use the word efficiency and effectiveness in the same sentence with this type of employment as it is extremely difficult to manage and to control such employees, especially if there are many of them and they are across vast distances, but sometimes even trying to manage a couple of dozen of unruly employees in a single location such as a hotel, a shopping center, in a commercial or a residential building or on a large ship, can be a monumental task all of its own.
