Remote workers are not much harder than local ones. But you have to have the tools. Most folks cobble something together out of Skype, GoToMeeting etc and end up in a world of pain. {Shameless plug} an integrated workgroup product like Sococo can make managing teams seamless. Its actually easier to conference online than to have mixed meetings of local workers and remote ones. Where I work we insist meetings go online so everybody can see who's talking and everybody can hear. Add in presentation sharing and even company meetings are simple.