First, sit down and figure out what kind of contacts and workflow exist between you and them - what information or help do they need from you, what questions do they expect you to answer, and so on. Then, determine the best way to continue providing that support even at a distance; for example, offer to substitute phone, fax, or e-mail support for face-to-face access. Be sure that inquiries from clients or customers don't land on your co-workers who aren't telecommuting, or else they will become resentful.

Most important, take the initiative to reach out to those co-workers or customers to let them know your telecommuting schedule and what you'll be doing to continue to provide support to them. If you can assure them that you won't be abandoning them just because you're working out of the office for part of the time, they won't become resentful.

2. Some of my co-workers seem to resent the fact that I'm telecommuting - what can I do?

It depends why they are resentful - and how serious they are about it. Sometimes, there's good-natured kidding of the telecommuters when they come into the office, and that's generally not a problem. But if the kidding isn't so good-natured, and if it becomes sarcastic and spiteful, that's a problem. It can be especially tough if the resentment also leads to lack of cooperation and support.

You need to determine - perhaps with your manager's help - what's the cause of the resentment. One frequent problem is that the office workers end up with more work and more interruptions when the telecommuters are out of the office. If that's the case, they deserve to be resentful because the telecommuting arrangement wasn't planned properly.

3. My co-workers and clients are reluctant to call me when I'm telecommuting - they say they don't want to call me "at home." What can I do?

This is a common problem. It comes from the traditional separation of work and personal life, and we are conditioned to respect the privacy of a person's time at home. Even though telecommuting means working at home, and often happens during normal business hours, some people still feel that a work-related call to the home is an intrusion.

Talk to your co-workers or clients and assure them that you want - and expect - them to call you if necessary, just as they would if you were in the office. This is one of the benefits of having a separate telephone line for your office at home; you can tell people that they won't be calling on the residence phone, and therefore won't be interrupting other family members or otherwise intruding.

4. My co-workers and clients page me or call me at home in the evening and sometimes on weekends - it's getting very annoying. What can I do?

This is the opposite problem, and unfortunately it seems to be growing. We've made it so easy to get in touch with people - and everyone seems to be under so much pressure - that it's hard to maintain a separation between work and personal time.

How you handle this depends on who is calling, how urgent it is, and what options are available to you. Obviously, if your boss's boss calls with an important question in the evening, you're going to be more likely to respond than if the call is less important. Two points to remember, no matter who calls or pages you: each time that you answer that call or page and provide what is requested, you are reinforcing the caller for cutting into your private time. If you don't express your dissatisfaction with those late calls, the caller will assume that they really don't bother you. Second, if you do choose to let the person know that you'd like them to stop, please do it assertively but not aggressively. You can clearly state your case without getting into an argument, accusing them, or otherwise creating more problems than you're going to solve.

5. My co-workers seem clueless about what I actually do when I'm telecommuting. What can I do to show them I'm not sitting around watching TV all day?

This is a common concern, no matter how valuable or effective you might have been while working in the office. As a society, we are accustomed to associating "work" with "the office" and relaxation with being at home - so the natural tendency is to somehow assume that telecommuters aren't really working at home.

You have several options. First, make sure that your co-workers are aware of what you're producing. Don't take too much credit for your work or otherwise act like a superstar, but make sure your work doesn't become invisible. Your manager might be able to help you stay in the limelight in this respect.

Second, be sure you use the phone, e-mail, fax, and whatever other methods available to stay in touch with your co-workers while you're away. In the absence of some ongoing communication, they might assume that you're just goofing off.

Third, consider inviting one or more co-workers to visit you in your home office. When they see that you aren't lounging on the sofa or working in the hot tub (you aren't - are you?), and they see that you actually have a functioning office at home, they'll probably start acting differently. Keep in mind that any visits to your home must be at YOUR option, and only if YOU are comfortable with this.