Telecommuting

I was just on the phone with technical support at Network Solutions, and I noticed the lack of background noise in the call. So, I asked the technician, “Are you in a private office?” The answer didn’t surprise me much when I heard, “I work from my office at home,” as I have several business clients who utilize telecommuters in their organizations.

Interested in how this company manages their telecommuting staff, I queried and found out that this person used to work in the office. A survey was circulated and potential telecommuters could volunteer to work from home. Requirements? Must have a separate work area to use as an office and the necessary equipment, Internet and phone connections/services. All hours and calls are tracked by computer and the telecommuter must attend scheduled in-office meetings.

Pay is the same as working in the office and the telecommuter saves travel time, gas, and childcare costs. Bam!

The employer also saves overhead costs when empowering employees to telecommute making it a win-win effort for all parties. Also, as companies expand their services and are actively engaged in recruitment of employees, telecommuting staff need not be regulated to a convenient commute distance and can actually reside outside the state of the business location.

telecommuting

Telecommuting is a trend that you might consider talking to your employer about. There are many tracking systems available to add confidence to your employer about your fulfilling your obligations while, “on the clock.” And in most cases, employees can be far more effective and productive when empowered to telecommute.

Of course, not all jobs can be performed off-site, but it is commonly agreed as we charge into the information age, that as much as fifty percent of the workforce could be effectively telecommuting and to date 45 percent are. You could be one of the growing numbers of telecommuters.

Some of the best skills or services provided from an at home telecommuter include accounting, call centers, secretarial services, communication-related services, writing or journalism, marketing, art departments and multimedia services, data entry, publishing, advertising, consultation, sales, programming and technical, educational or training services just to name a few.

Now, if you’re going to consider making such a move to telecommuting, you must have a realistic evaluation of the work environment that you can maintain from your home, like having all the necessary equipment, a private space as well as being able to manage life at home enough to ensure that you can remain uninterrupted while “working.”

This means getting commitments from other people whom you may be sharing your living space with, like spouse and children, or other roommates. If you are unable to secure a clean and separate work environment with the support of co-habitants then you may not end up having an effective telecommuting experience.

Outsourcing is another trend, where we see companies reaching outside the office to work with people who support their organizations in a telecommuting relationship. Many people are engaging in freelancing opportunities while offering support services from home.

This can be an excellent way to subsidize one’s income by working from home part-time and some people have grown their telecommuting freelancing businesses to far exceed their normal nine-to-five day jobs.

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