Tony, a student from our November workshop, coined the term "telecommuter-ready" during an after class discussion. The term refers to the readiness of an employee to undertake a telecommuting work option.
Does the employee have the right stuff? Just like selecting a candidate for any job, there is some art and some science to predicting whether an employee will be able to 
perform up to your standards while working from home or some other offsite location. Yes, it is a prediction. And you only know after the fact if it worked.
I'm sure you know some of the obvious "readiness" characteristics: can work independently, routinely meets their goals, works well in a team, etc. But I'd like to raise some awareness about the less obvious…
Don't assume a high performer in the office will be a high performer in the home environment. Chances are good but not certain. Why? A high performer like any performer, has an ecosystem around them in which they operate. Change that ecosystem (people, physical environment, feedback, energy, equipment, etc) and their performance may change. This can be true for low performers as well, but is more true for middle performers where there is a greater amount of variation.
