How you present yourself at your place of work is everything, and how you are perceived beyond the first impression is highly dependent on how you present yourself. In the workplace, you want to be well-groomed and professional in appearance and demeanor.  Imagine showing up to work without a clean shave or without makeup. Your face is the focal point when you communicate the vast majority of information, both through expressions and verbalization.  However, when you’re teleworking, you will not have the opportunity to meet with most people face-to-face; but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a virtual face.

Your internet connection is your virtual face, and you want to make sure it looks good.  If people cannot receive your files, or hear you during online meetings, then that is just as bad as literally showing up to work without a face; you’d have no eyes to see with and no mouth to speak with (imagine applying makeup to NOTHING). Yes, it’s a drastic example, but you need a face.  Without a face, communication with your peers would suffer greatly and communication is an important factor in determining your success when teleworking.

The limiting factor that dictates the quality of all your interactions when working from home is bandwidth. If you have low bandwidth (defined as anything less than broadband), you cannot take advantage of advancing communication technologies. For example, sharing large files over cloud technology is not possible; video conferencing using Skype is full of static and unusable; and even Sococo Team Space (shameless plug) will have trouble pushing the 16 audio connections in your cross functional meeting through that tiny pipe you call a connection.

Perhaps a more realistic analogy would be that your internet connection is like your car, and you commute to work every time you have to interact with someone. Do you want to arrive in a Ford Pinto (dial-up), or do you want to show up in a teleporter from Star Trek (high-speed broadband)? The coolness and speed factors speak for themselves in this analogy. When you telework, your home, or wherever you are, becomes your office, and you and your company need to ensure that it’s properly equipped to fulfill your tasks. Having a broadband connection is necessary to maintain contact and interact with your community.  Broadband is crucial for telework – especially if you want to put your best face forward! 

Brandon Silberstein graduated from Stanford University with his MA in psychology and works for Sococo.