il adirondack mountains and stays in contact with her office via computer. a manager comes in to his office three days a week and works at home the other two. an accountant stays home to care for her sick child; she hooks up her telephone modern connections and does office work between calls to the doctor.these are powerful images, but they are a limited reflection of reality. telecommuting workers soon learn that it is almost impossible to concentrate on work and care for a young child at the same time. before a certain age, young children cannot recognize, much less respect, the necessary boundaries between work and family. additional child support is necessary if the parent is to get any work done.management too must separate the myth from the reality.

　　although the media has paid a great deal of attention to telecommuting in most cases it is the employee’s situation, not the availability of technology that precipitates a telecommuting arrangement.that is partly why, despite the widespread press coverage, the number of companies with work-at-home programs or policy guidelines remains small.