Work/Life Balance
Having just completed a section on focus and distractions, it may be unusual to read about another common problem faced by telecommuters - stopping work. This is another aspect that is simply a personality trait, common to some, uncommon to others. But it is a theme that likely occurs more often than not.
"Julie doesn't need to drive all the way into the office, she's at home. Besides, I've seen her reply to emails at ten o'clock at night before. She'll fix this issue."
The "no difference" theme appears once again. For the sake of argument, let us assume that most of the time, most people work an eight or nine hour day, starting around eight in the morning and ending around five in the evening. Work hours may be something set or determined at the management or operations level, but if it is up to the telecommuter every effort should be made to maintain identical hours as an office worker or other team member. Otherwise, the above imaginary quote starts assuming very real qualities. If you use a smartphone hooked up to your work email or IM, you may have already experienced this - "always on" unfortunately often translates to "always available." Some jobs have the expectation of after-hours availability, of course. For the typical nine-to-fiver, though, quality of life will quickly suffer by taking for granted how easy it is to sit down at the computer to check an email or two.
It is reasonable, then, to establish clear expectations for availability not only at the management level, but internally to one's self to maintain a healthy work/life balance.