Everyone wants to work from home now but is productivity suffering?

A main trend in today’s business landscape is flexibility at work, melding the corporate office with the luxuries of your home.  While I am a very strong supporter of this movement and would advise all corporations, no matter how big or small, to offer this choice to their employees is the downfall productivity?
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In general I think each person is different. Some people enjoy the structure given to them by a corporate office while others are distracted by the distractions and need a quiet space away from the hustle and bustle of the cube farm.  But how can anyone be sure that work will not suffer?

In my opinion productivity and maintaining it is the major road block companies are hitting on the work from home front.  Will we get taken advantage of?  Can we trust our employees?  Will we get the same level of work and productivity?  If yes, how do we measure this and how can we formulize this data into tangible real life results? All very relevant questions and while these can all be built out in various shapes and forms what will the cost be?

It’s easy to see both sides of this argument right?  From a corporate perspective people have kids, pets, TV’s, phones, tablets, couches, and beds that all scream out to them.  On the flip side people have the luxury of sneaking in a couple hours on the weekend or late at night and can argue they will work more hours without losing productivity.  It does not matter what point I bring up there is a strong counter argument from the other side.   How then is one supposed to approach this growing trend that is quickly becoming a reality?

• Offer assistance in setting up a home office
• Work with your HR department to develop quantifiable metrics that monitor productivity
• Give employees a choice
• Offer trial periods that allow people to get a feel for working from home
• Set up weekly or daily calls that help in the transition and keep employees accountable and focused

 For the record I don’t think productivity will suffer, if you do your due diligence and hire the correct people then you will be surrounded by responsible professionals that you can rely on.  If you have questions about not trusting your employees then  you might want to reevaluate your hiring process.  
What do you think?  Will productivity suffer?  Could you carry out your daily tasks just as effectively from a home office?