Companies who recruit, train and manage staff via the internet, has forced HR professionals to work with virtual teams of employees they never meet.

Global outsourcing firm TeleTech has ann¬ounced plans to recruit up to 700 staff to a newly established virtual customer services branch in the UK, where staff apply for the job online, work from home, and never need to meet their manager face to face.

This 'cyber office' attempts to open up the employment market to staff who are physically unable to travel, and those who need more flexible arrangements.

Once recruited, employees join intranet chat rooms to keep up to date with business news and become part of a virtual community. Online operational managers regularly phone or e-mail their staff during the day.

Other initiatives have included motor services company the AA migrating staff from physical offices to working purely from home.