You know a concept has really taken off when its undergoes a name change. Now that “telecommuting” has become “telework,” (and it falls within the whole “flexible work arrangement” concept) that must mean it is mainstream.

This is a concept that has taken off in the US and other Western countries far more than it has in Asia so far. It is worth considering here, though, as there are a number of advantages to having your employees work offsite. For instance:

You can get more work out of them I started thinking about telework when I worked for the US government in Washington DC. I was spending 90 minutes a day commuting by bus and train. If I could get those 90 minutes back, I was willing to give an hour to work and keep 30 minutes for myself.

They are in a better mood They’re not dealing with “post commute” fatigue in the morning and they are not watching the clocks so they do not miss the bus in the evening. Anyone who has faced rush hour traffic in Bangkok knows what we are talking about here. Your employees do better when they’re not stressed unnecessarily.

They can follow their own work habits, not someone else’s Knowledge workers are often very individualized. Some prefer to spread 9 hours of work over a 12-hour period, some prefer to get it all done in a burst of energy, and others would rather work late into the night so they can be with their kids during the day. Telework helps avoid cramming everyone into the same working style.

Employees save money Everybody is happy about that. Parking is expensive, and public transit prices only go up, so keeping people off the roads keeps money in their pockets, and they like that. If your firm offers transit subsidies to get people to use public transportation, well, now you can save on that.

It lowers your real estate costs Office space is pretty expensive, and you can cut back on it dramatically if people are working remotely. If there are times when they have to come in, some firms have gone to hoteling and will have offices and conference rooms available, albeit on a smaller scale.

There are some potential problems with telework. For many traditionalists, these problems provide enough reason not to do it. Of course, that is because they have not tried to find a way around them:

Out of sight Some managers are concerned that, if they cannot see their employees, they may not be working. The trick here is to focus on your employees’ output without worrying what they are doing every minute of the day. And frankly, if you do not trust them, what does that say about your working relationship?

Group work Some work needs to get done in groups. Very often you will have teams that need to come together and hash things out. Some of that can be done online, of course…Skype and Google Docs can help bring work together even if the people do not come together. Providing a central office where people can meet in person or making use of cowering spaces or libraries as meeting points can get a group together when it is needed, then allow it to disperse when solo work is better.

Individual working style As we noted above, everyone has their own style, and for some, that style is working in a group. Many talented employees feed off of the energy of a group of bright people working hard together. You need to tailor the office style to your employees’ requirements…do not implement a really great idea like telework if the result will be a drop in productivity.

Information sharing and security In the office you (hopefully) have a network with good security. Bouncing around with telework, though, each individual is largely responsible for their own information security, and not all of us are experts. This can be a real problem, so you should invest in a security consultant to help you out. If you already have a bring-your-own-device policy in the workplace, though, then telework may not make that much of a difference.

Separating work and home This is a biggie, especially in households with multiple generations of people living there, and it is one reason you will get pushback from some employees. I know that when I work in an office I like to turn that off when I get home. I think if I teleworked I would need a room set aside at home that was for work only, so I could close the door and get away. Of course, that may not solve everything; when I was a grad student I mostly worked at home, and it was hard to turn it off…it seemed like the work was always there. Some people will just keep working and working when the work is always in front of them…a good friend of mine had his computer in his bedroom and would work the strangest hours, and far too many of them. For those who need the separation, consider a separate site like a coworking space near their home.

For many traditional organizations, with set working hours or regular interface with customers or other organizations, telework has not been warmly embraced. But even in the US government, which adopts change at a very slow pace, there were exceptions…the Patent and Trademark Office has one of the most flexible work plans of any government agency, and it works very well for them (the revelation of a few problems last year was national news because it was so unusual). If even the government can make something like this work, surely you can consider it yourself.