Making the virtual office work; Learn ways companies can help remote workers succeed
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 | 9:50 am
In the last decade, virtual work has significantly increased. Professionals work remotely from home, from client locations or from the road. In fact, as much of 10% of today's work force telecommutes from home — more than triple the level of 2000.
Reducing the number of full-time employees lets corporations realize higher productivity and savings in real estate costs. International Business Machines Corp., for instance, saves $100 million a year by allowing 42% of its employees to work remotely. And employees like spending less time and money commuting; they enjoy the flexibility and autonomy of working from home.
But there are, of course, challenges. The first involves finding the right work-life balance. Many people who telecommute believe they'll achieve a better balance between work and home, but telecommuting can sometimes have the opposite effect: employees work longer hours and struggle to make time for their personal life. They work weekends, holidays, evenings and during the hours they would have been commuting, while their families expect that staying home means they'll also be managing the household. The result is remote employees who feel overworked and stressed.
Management could help by setting norms and discussing the best ways to establish work-life balance. Managers might advise team members not to work on holidays or weekends, to sign off at certain times and to leave BlackBerrys at home during family vacations. Managers also should prioritize tasks and provide frequent feedback so remote workers can better handle heavy workloads. Otherwise, remote employees can feel as if all assignments have the same sense of urgency.
The second challenge has to do with overcoming workplace isolation. Isolated employees don't know where or to whom to turn when questions arise, and they feel disconnected from their organizations. People sometimes want advice; they need peers to bounce ideas off of. And they can miss the social environment of a traditional workplace.
Managers can help by conducting one-on-one meetings, following up on action items and paying attention to remote employees' contributions. Moreover, they can check in informally, making sure they understand their employees' concerns and issues.
Managers also can promote social interaction among team members. A company that provides infrastructure software, for example, encourages its remote employees from different functional areas and locations to introduce themselves and to engage in games with prizes during teleconference meetings. Companies could celebrate virtual employees' birthdays, or make them part of the holiday gift exchange. Face-to-face forums, conferences and workshops are also good opportunities for telecommuting employees to interact professionally and socially with colleagues.
Another idea is to pair a remote employee with someone in the company, allowing for mentoring to occur. This works particularly well when a company office is nearby and remote employees can attend social events and have informal meetings with their traditional colleagues. Mentoring could also occur between remote workers, a new employee being paired with someone who has lots of experience working remotely.
A third challenge has to do with compensating for the lack of face-to-face communication. With remote work, people primarily communicate through e-mail, which it makes it more difficult for remote employees to develop personal relationships and trust among their colleagues. It also takes longer to communicate this way, requiring more explanation because contextual cues are missing. The volume of communication may be high, but the efficiency is poor.
Managers should arrange to meet face-to-face with their employees at least once a year. They also should aim to use technology informally. For example, rather than start weekly meetings with formal agenda items, managers can talk a little about family news. This helps with relationship building, which in turn can improve overall communication.
The final challenge concerns compensating for a lack of visibility. Remote employees can feel that they have to work harder than traditional employees to be recognized or promoted.
Again, managers can help by being supportive and thereby reducing "out of sight, out of mind" concerns. Managers could promote individual and team achievements, finding ways to share this information throughout the organization. A manager at a software company, for example, e-mails her boss each week to describe some of the key accomplishments of her remote employees.
Managers should signal their accessibility, communicating that they're open to both formal and informal conversations, providing information about when they're available and setting guidelines for when and how they'll respond to phone calls, e-mails and other communication.
Copyright Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This article is adapted from "Set Up Remote Workers to Thrive," by Jay Mulki, Fleura Bardhi, Felicia Lassk and Jayne Nanavaty-Dahl, which appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review. The complete article is available here.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Telecommuters: All Information You Should Understand
Telecommuters: All Information You Should Understand
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 8:01 am
Telecommuting opportunities are on the rise every day. What telecommuters do is work in the comfort of their home, or any other place they are comfortable with, and have the ability to communicate with the main office or boss using any of the new and modern methods they are comfortable with. As it may have already occurred to you, telecommuters have the best life. They get to wake up at any time of the day, sleep at a time they so desire, spend quality time with the family and still get paid for their hourly work. What would you not do for a life like this?
But all is not rosy for telecommuters. Firstly, telecommuters working at home have no specific time allocated to work. This may, at times, make it difficult for telecommuters to work efficiently. The opposite of this is also possible - since there is no specific time allocated to work, workaholic telecommuters may work 24hours a day leading them to health and stress related problems.
Secondly, telecommuters may suffer from feelings of isolation and may miss the companionship and support of coworkers. They may also not show any feelings of loyalty to the company which is a concerning factor for employers. Thirdly, working at home makes telecommuters prone to distractions that they can and cannot avoid. This has a direct negative effect on the telecommuter’s productivity. Lastly, telecommuters do not have many chances to career promotions.
That being said, telecommuting also has its advantages. As said above, there is the luxury of working at your own house in your own time. This means there is also time for the family and your other interests.
There is also less cost involved as there are no reasons for travel or anything else that could end up costing the employee.Third, since telecommuting does not require any travel between the household and the workplace, it reduces noise and air pollution. Finally, telecommuters sometimes hold more than one telecommuting position allowing them to generate more income than the traditional workers.
Though telecommuting sounds like a piece of cake, telecommuters are expected to possess immense responsibilities. The crucial one would be loyalty and honesty towards their employers. They are expected to put in a set amount of hours as per the agreed terms and are expected to take on a good workload per day.
Being dishonest or untrustworthy is reason enough to get fired from the job. Once this trust is damaged nothing can be said or done to rebuild it. Because of this the relationship between the telecommuter and employer comes with great responsibilities.
Do you need useful devices to advance your telecommuting jobs? Just visit walkie talkie headset and audiovox walkie talkie sites for your telecommunication business need.
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 8:01 am
Telecommuting opportunities are on the rise every day. What telecommuters do is work in the comfort of their home, or any other place they are comfortable with, and have the ability to communicate with the main office or boss using any of the new and modern methods they are comfortable with. As it may have already occurred to you, telecommuters have the best life. They get to wake up at any time of the day, sleep at a time they so desire, spend quality time with the family and still get paid for their hourly work. What would you not do for a life like this?
But all is not rosy for telecommuters. Firstly, telecommuters working at home have no specific time allocated to work. This may, at times, make it difficult for telecommuters to work efficiently. The opposite of this is also possible - since there is no specific time allocated to work, workaholic telecommuters may work 24hours a day leading them to health and stress related problems.
Secondly, telecommuters may suffer from feelings of isolation and may miss the companionship and support of coworkers. They may also not show any feelings of loyalty to the company which is a concerning factor for employers. Thirdly, working at home makes telecommuters prone to distractions that they can and cannot avoid. This has a direct negative effect on the telecommuter’s productivity. Lastly, telecommuters do not have many chances to career promotions.
That being said, telecommuting also has its advantages. As said above, there is the luxury of working at your own house in your own time. This means there is also time for the family and your other interests.
There is also less cost involved as there are no reasons for travel or anything else that could end up costing the employee.Third, since telecommuting does not require any travel between the household and the workplace, it reduces noise and air pollution. Finally, telecommuters sometimes hold more than one telecommuting position allowing them to generate more income than the traditional workers.
Though telecommuting sounds like a piece of cake, telecommuters are expected to possess immense responsibilities. The crucial one would be loyalty and honesty towards their employers. They are expected to put in a set amount of hours as per the agreed terms and are expected to take on a good workload per day.
Being dishonest or untrustworthy is reason enough to get fired from the job. Once this trust is damaged nothing can be said or done to rebuild it. Because of this the relationship between the telecommuter and employer comes with great responsibilities.
Do you need useful devices to advance your telecommuting jobs? Just visit walkie talkie headset and audiovox walkie talkie sites for your telecommunication business need.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Laptop Warriors Find Cozy Homes In Coffee Shops, Libraries With Free Wifi
Laptop warriors find cozy homes in coffee shops, libraries with free WiFi
By Janet Cho
The Plain Dealer January 26, 2010, 11:30AM
CLEVELAND -- Every morning, Roger White of Cleveland's Edgewater neighborhood trudges over to Truffles Pastry Shop, orders a scone and a steaming cup of joe, and fires up his laptop.
Logging in to the free WiFi, he then turns the cafe into a cozy extension of his living room, surfing the Web, catching up with the other regulars, and downing an endless river of coffee over a three-hour visit.
White is among a growing legion of laptop warriors who populate Cleveland's Wifi hotspots, seeking out libraries, restaurants and coffee shops with free Internet access. Drawn by the fresh coffee, good music and interesting people, these laptop-dependent folks can't imagine life without plugging in.
While nobody knows exactly how many laptop users frequent such sites, by all accounts their ranks are growing.
"At different times of day, you'll come in here and there's somebody plugged in at every outlet," said White, who loves the vibe at Truffles so much he canceled his Internet service at home. "On Saturdays and Sundays, the place is busy all day.
"Yes, it would be cheaper at home, but No. 1, I don't make as good coffee, and No.
2, I have to get my scones somewhere."
Being with other laptop warriors helps combat the biggest downside to telecommuting, which is social isolation, said Debra Dinnocenzo, president of VirtualWorks!, a Wexford, Pa., firm that specializes in telecommuting, and author of "How to Work Together From a Distance."
While having a virtual workplace gives us the flexibility to work anywhere, "we are innately social beings and we like to be together," she said.
Since the economy soured and more workers lost their jobs, Truffles owner James Orlando has noticed more people using his pastry shop as an informal office from which to network and look for a new job.
"They want to be somewhere, but they don't want to be alone," he said.
"Enjoying free WiFi is a great way to socialize without having to talk to anybody," he said.
Laptops themselves have become smaller, cheaper, lighter, faster and more powerful than comparable desktops, said Andy Abramson, co-host of the "World Technology Roundup" on kenradio.com and author of the blog "Working Anywhere".
Combine this with the soaring popularity of social networking sites and the explosion in free WiFi access, and suddenly, "more people can connect to each other in more places more often," he said.
"That's led to our love affair with laptops," he added.
Josh Handley, who just got his degree to teach high school math and is looking for a job, said he stops by the Phoenix Cafe on Coventry several times a week to go online.
"I really do prefer this to the library," he said. "There's something about what's going on in the background that keeps you focused.
"I wouldn't come here if the coffee wasn't so good. And you don't get Louis (Armstrong) at other places," he added, pointing up to the speakers playing "What a Wonderful World."
"On Sunday, in the middle of the day, it was wall-to-wall laptops, and some tables had two laptops on them."
Some free Wi-Fi hotspots:
Arabica Coffee Houses: various locations.
Barnes & Noble: various locations.
Borders Book Store: various locations.
Caribou Coffee: various locations.
Cleveland Public Library: various branches.
Cuyahoga County Public Library: various branches.
Dewey's Coffee Caf , 13201 Shaker Square, Cleveland.
Gypsy Beans & Baking Co., 6425 Detroit Ave., Cleveland.
Koffie Kafe, 2521 Market Ave., Cleveland.
Liquid Planet Caf : locations in Cleveland, Cleveland Heights and Westlake.
McDonald's restaurants: Check McDonaldsNEO.com.
Panera Bread: various locations.
Phoenix Cafes: Locations in Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Lakewood and South Euclid.
Starbucks: Free for AT&T DSL customers and those who register their Starbucks cards; $3.99 for others. Check starbucks.com for locations.
The Stone Oven: locations in Cleveland, Cleveland Heights and Woodmere.
Touch Supper Club, 2710 Lorain Ave., Cleveland.
Truffles Pastry Shop, 11122 Clifton Blvd., Cleveland.
Tower City Center , Cleveland.
Winking Lizard Taverns: various locations.
Yours Truly Restaurants: various locations.
Jason Levy, who is looking for a job in building maintenance or warehouse management, finds it easier to job-hunt from a Starbucks or McDonald's than to try to get stuff done at home.
Sitting next to the window at the Starbucks on Ridge Road in Brooklyn, he said: "There are a lot of people who use places like this as their office rather than renting a space."
Carl Jones, founder of Phoenix and Arabica coffee houses and master coffee roaster at the Phoenix Cafes, has offered free WiFi ever since it became available.
For business people, "we've become kind of a semi-private office."
Not only do his cafes attract different groups of people, but the demographics of those sitting at his tables change throughout the day. The business people who stop by in the morning are replaced by an influx of high school students after school, and a whole different crowd of college students and night owls comes in at night.
Jones doesn't quibble with people who don't order very much, although most customers do.
His informal rules are simple: "Buy a cup of coffee now and then, treat the staff nicely, and if it's crowded, invite somebody else to sit down at your table.
"If people are helpful and we're not packed, we don't mind them staying," he added.
At the Phoenix Cafe in Cleveland Heights' Coventry neighborhood, every outlet had a laptop plugged into it on a recent Tuesday morning.
"I can't study in my apartment; too many distractions," said Kareem Hindi, a second-year economics student at Cleveland State University sitting near a window. "Here there's no TV, and just look, I can go outside if I need a break.
He says he lingers for nine to 12 hours at a time, nursing a $2 cup of green tea that gets weaker and weaker with every refill of hot water.
At the next table, Erin Henry, a family nurse practitioner at Case Western Reserve Nursing School, was huddled next to a toasty fire, listening to her iPod and cramming for her board exams.
"At home, I keep thinking about all the other things I should be doing," she said. "Here, it feels more homey. If I get up to use the bathroom, I can ask someone, 'Hey, can you watch my stuff for me?'"
Christine Cano, an associate professor of French at Case Western Reserve University, said: "You see the same phenomenon everywhere in Paris. There are certain cafes where everybody brings their laptops."
She's researching the prolific letter-writing habits of Marcel Proust and says there's no better place than a coffee house to get things done.
"I've done my best work in cafes, because this work if very isolating," she said. "This morning, I tried to work at home, but I just got my things and came here."
At the Starbucks in Woodmere, Blake Cook of Ashtabula, who teaches art classes at Cuyahoga Community College, was savoring the best seat in the house with his feet up in front of the gas fireplace.
View full sizeGus Chan, The Plain DealerRob Troxell, of Cleveland Heights works on his laptop at the Phoenix Coffee on Coventry last Friday. Troxell works at Phoenix but spends his downtime there too. He's been a barista for the past two months. He said the ubiquity of laptops, cell phones and PDAs is a sign of the times, and something he's constantly reminding his students to turn off during class.
Preferring to surf the Internet in public places rather than home alone "is an odd thing, but it must mean that we crave the physical presence of other people."
"It's like having the TV on in the background," he said. "You feel like you're part of the action even if you're not watching."
White, the regular at Truffles, said laptops give users a chance to both appear busy and be sociable, because you can turn to the person next to you and say, "Look at this, look what I just read."
White says it's ironic that so many laptop warriors use the Internet access to log onto social media sites such as Facebook or to check their e-mails from other people, but don't say a word to the person sitting next to them.
"What's really funny is when I'm on Facebook and I get a message from one of my friends and they're sitting right over there," he said.
By Janet Cho
The Plain Dealer January 26, 2010, 11:30AM
CLEVELAND -- Every morning, Roger White of Cleveland's Edgewater neighborhood trudges over to Truffles Pastry Shop, orders a scone and a steaming cup of joe, and fires up his laptop.
Logging in to the free WiFi, he then turns the cafe into a cozy extension of his living room, surfing the Web, catching up with the other regulars, and downing an endless river of coffee over a three-hour visit.
White is among a growing legion of laptop warriors who populate Cleveland's Wifi hotspots, seeking out libraries, restaurants and coffee shops with free Internet access. Drawn by the fresh coffee, good music and interesting people, these laptop-dependent folks can't imagine life without plugging in.
While nobody knows exactly how many laptop users frequent such sites, by all accounts their ranks are growing.
"At different times of day, you'll come in here and there's somebody plugged in at every outlet," said White, who loves the vibe at Truffles so much he canceled his Internet service at home. "On Saturdays and Sundays, the place is busy all day.
"Yes, it would be cheaper at home, but No. 1, I don't make as good coffee, and No.
2, I have to get my scones somewhere."
Being with other laptop warriors helps combat the biggest downside to telecommuting, which is social isolation, said Debra Dinnocenzo, president of VirtualWorks!, a Wexford, Pa., firm that specializes in telecommuting, and author of "How to Work Together From a Distance."
While having a virtual workplace gives us the flexibility to work anywhere, "we are innately social beings and we like to be together," she said.
Since the economy soured and more workers lost their jobs, Truffles owner James Orlando has noticed more people using his pastry shop as an informal office from which to network and look for a new job.
"They want to be somewhere, but they don't want to be alone," he said.
"Enjoying free WiFi is a great way to socialize without having to talk to anybody," he said.
Laptops themselves have become smaller, cheaper, lighter, faster and more powerful than comparable desktops, said Andy Abramson, co-host of the "World Technology Roundup" on kenradio.com and author of the blog "Working Anywhere".
Combine this with the soaring popularity of social networking sites and the explosion in free WiFi access, and suddenly, "more people can connect to each other in more places more often," he said.
"That's led to our love affair with laptops," he added.
Josh Handley, who just got his degree to teach high school math and is looking for a job, said he stops by the Phoenix Cafe on Coventry several times a week to go online.
"I really do prefer this to the library," he said. "There's something about what's going on in the background that keeps you focused.
"I wouldn't come here if the coffee wasn't so good. And you don't get Louis (Armstrong) at other places," he added, pointing up to the speakers playing "What a Wonderful World."
"On Sunday, in the middle of the day, it was wall-to-wall laptops, and some tables had two laptops on them."
Some free Wi-Fi hotspots:
Arabica Coffee Houses: various locations.
Barnes & Noble: various locations.
Borders Book Store: various locations.
Caribou Coffee: various locations.
Cleveland Public Library: various branches.
Cuyahoga County Public Library: various branches.
Dewey's Coffee Caf , 13201 Shaker Square, Cleveland.
Gypsy Beans & Baking Co., 6425 Detroit Ave., Cleveland.
Koffie Kafe, 2521 Market Ave., Cleveland.
Liquid Planet Caf : locations in Cleveland, Cleveland Heights and Westlake.
McDonald's restaurants: Check McDonaldsNEO.com.
Panera Bread: various locations.
Phoenix Cafes: Locations in Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Lakewood and South Euclid.
Starbucks: Free for AT&T DSL customers and those who register their Starbucks cards; $3.99 for others. Check starbucks.com for locations.
The Stone Oven: locations in Cleveland, Cleveland Heights and Woodmere.
Touch Supper Club, 2710 Lorain Ave., Cleveland.
Truffles Pastry Shop, 11122 Clifton Blvd., Cleveland.
Tower City Center , Cleveland.
Winking Lizard Taverns: various locations.
Yours Truly Restaurants: various locations.
Jason Levy, who is looking for a job in building maintenance or warehouse management, finds it easier to job-hunt from a Starbucks or McDonald's than to try to get stuff done at home.
Sitting next to the window at the Starbucks on Ridge Road in Brooklyn, he said: "There are a lot of people who use places like this as their office rather than renting a space."
Carl Jones, founder of Phoenix and Arabica coffee houses and master coffee roaster at the Phoenix Cafes, has offered free WiFi ever since it became available.
For business people, "we've become kind of a semi-private office."
Not only do his cafes attract different groups of people, but the demographics of those sitting at his tables change throughout the day. The business people who stop by in the morning are replaced by an influx of high school students after school, and a whole different crowd of college students and night owls comes in at night.
Jones doesn't quibble with people who don't order very much, although most customers do.
His informal rules are simple: "Buy a cup of coffee now and then, treat the staff nicely, and if it's crowded, invite somebody else to sit down at your table.
"If people are helpful and we're not packed, we don't mind them staying," he added.
At the Phoenix Cafe in Cleveland Heights' Coventry neighborhood, every outlet had a laptop plugged into it on a recent Tuesday morning.
"I can't study in my apartment; too many distractions," said Kareem Hindi, a second-year economics student at Cleveland State University sitting near a window. "Here there's no TV, and just look, I can go outside if I need a break.
He says he lingers for nine to 12 hours at a time, nursing a $2 cup of green tea that gets weaker and weaker with every refill of hot water.
At the next table, Erin Henry, a family nurse practitioner at Case Western Reserve Nursing School, was huddled next to a toasty fire, listening to her iPod and cramming for her board exams.
"At home, I keep thinking about all the other things I should be doing," she said. "Here, it feels more homey. If I get up to use the bathroom, I can ask someone, 'Hey, can you watch my stuff for me?'"
Christine Cano, an associate professor of French at Case Western Reserve University, said: "You see the same phenomenon everywhere in Paris. There are certain cafes where everybody brings their laptops."
She's researching the prolific letter-writing habits of Marcel Proust and says there's no better place than a coffee house to get things done.
"I've done my best work in cafes, because this work if very isolating," she said. "This morning, I tried to work at home, but I just got my things and came here."
At the Starbucks in Woodmere, Blake Cook of Ashtabula, who teaches art classes at Cuyahoga Community College, was savoring the best seat in the house with his feet up in front of the gas fireplace.
View full sizeGus Chan, The Plain DealerRob Troxell, of Cleveland Heights works on his laptop at the Phoenix Coffee on Coventry last Friday. Troxell works at Phoenix but spends his downtime there too. He's been a barista for the past two months. He said the ubiquity of laptops, cell phones and PDAs is a sign of the times, and something he's constantly reminding his students to turn off during class.
Preferring to surf the Internet in public places rather than home alone "is an odd thing, but it must mean that we crave the physical presence of other people."
"It's like having the TV on in the background," he said. "You feel like you're part of the action even if you're not watching."
White, the regular at Truffles, said laptops give users a chance to both appear busy and be sociable, because you can turn to the person next to you and say, "Look at this, look what I just read."
White says it's ironic that so many laptop warriors use the Internet access to log onto social media sites such as Facebook or to check their e-mails from other people, but don't say a word to the person sitting next to them.
"What's really funny is when I'm on Facebook and I get a message from one of my friends and they're sitting right over there," he said.
The Ideal Workspace is Found at Home
The ideal workspace is found at home
By MARKO FOJAS
January 26, 2010, 3:26pm
After accidentally rear-ending a taxi about five years ago, I knew a career shift was inevitable. Being a dead tired call center agent at the time, I nodded off for a few seconds behind the wheel. It was then that I decided to move out of the cubicle farm and into home-based work. Initially working as a call center representative at home, I eventually became a full-time writer for off-shore clients.
While outsourcing is hardly a new concept in the Philippines, companies abroad have gradually changed their approach to suit today’s economic climate. They’re now skipping the typical business model by directly hiring home-based workers to perform all sorts of tasks.
The online labor market is driven by various hiring portals which allow people to remotely work as a transcriber, virtual assistant, creative writer, programmer, graphic designer, or translator. However, there are even more positions available, so get ready to fire up the ever-reliable Google to sniff out the jobs you want.
Obviously, the very nature of this setup already implies the convenience that comes with the job. You no longer need to worry about what to wear, nor do you have to drive like a bat out of hell to get to the office on time. You’ll also cut down on food and transportation costs, and being in a comfortable environment can boost your productivity levels. While schedules depend on a given client, you have the flexibility to choose the hours that work best for you.
Like any other job however, there are several factors that you need to anticipate. Above all, discipline is indispensable. Kristoferson Jose, a web designer, says: “When I got into my current job, I already had a full understanding that working at home doesn’t mean I can play and work at the same time. This setup is very convenient for me, so the least I can do is to make sure that I’m always at my best.”
Since no one’s physically looking over your shoulder, working with integrity is a necessary habit if you want to stay hired. The benefit of added freedom can be a double-edged sword, so there’s a greater need to properly manage your personal and professional life.
For example, working moms need to ensure that someone is watching after the kids when they’re on the clock. For older children, it must be explained to them that you can only be disturbed during emergencies. After all, you need to take your livelihood seriously, regardless of where it’s done.
Kristoferson says, “Making my family aware of the nature of my work allows me to do my job efficiently.” He also adds that “setting up a defined work room at home helps differentiate my work life and private life.”
Therefore, your working space needs to be in a quiet, orderly place where you can fully concentrate and keep your mind in “work mode”. This is especially important for call center folks because it’s usually a big no-no for their callers to hear background noise (such as crying children or barking dogs).
Sites such as Lifehacker.com offer work-at-home professionals plenty of ideas on creating an uncluttered workspace. If your floor area is limited for instance (such as in my case), make use of the walls by mounting shelves which can be bought at DIY stores.
Also, you’ll need to invest in a reliable desktop or laptop since this is instrumental to earning your keep. Most employers are particular about machine specifications, so get a technically-savvy friend or relative to take you shopping if you need help picking out a computer.
The same goes for your Internet connection as this is what makes telecommuting possible in the first place. In the same breath, get ready to troubleshoot any computer and Internet-related issues you may run into, or have the same folks who took you shopping to help you out.
All in all, working at home definitely has advantages over going to a regular office. It’s just a matter of looking out for the inherent challenges that come with the territory and dealing with them appropriately. If properly managed, you’ll be left with a lot more time for other things aside from working all day – or crashing into unwary cabbies.
By MARKO FOJAS
January 26, 2010, 3:26pm
After accidentally rear-ending a taxi about five years ago, I knew a career shift was inevitable. Being a dead tired call center agent at the time, I nodded off for a few seconds behind the wheel. It was then that I decided to move out of the cubicle farm and into home-based work. Initially working as a call center representative at home, I eventually became a full-time writer for off-shore clients.
While outsourcing is hardly a new concept in the Philippines, companies abroad have gradually changed their approach to suit today’s economic climate. They’re now skipping the typical business model by directly hiring home-based workers to perform all sorts of tasks.
The online labor market is driven by various hiring portals which allow people to remotely work as a transcriber, virtual assistant, creative writer, programmer, graphic designer, or translator. However, there are even more positions available, so get ready to fire up the ever-reliable Google to sniff out the jobs you want.
Obviously, the very nature of this setup already implies the convenience that comes with the job. You no longer need to worry about what to wear, nor do you have to drive like a bat out of hell to get to the office on time. You’ll also cut down on food and transportation costs, and being in a comfortable environment can boost your productivity levels. While schedules depend on a given client, you have the flexibility to choose the hours that work best for you.
Like any other job however, there are several factors that you need to anticipate. Above all, discipline is indispensable. Kristoferson Jose, a web designer, says: “When I got into my current job, I already had a full understanding that working at home doesn’t mean I can play and work at the same time. This setup is very convenient for me, so the least I can do is to make sure that I’m always at my best.”
Since no one’s physically looking over your shoulder, working with integrity is a necessary habit if you want to stay hired. The benefit of added freedom can be a double-edged sword, so there’s a greater need to properly manage your personal and professional life.
For example, working moms need to ensure that someone is watching after the kids when they’re on the clock. For older children, it must be explained to them that you can only be disturbed during emergencies. After all, you need to take your livelihood seriously, regardless of where it’s done.
Kristoferson says, “Making my family aware of the nature of my work allows me to do my job efficiently.” He also adds that “setting up a defined work room at home helps differentiate my work life and private life.”
Therefore, your working space needs to be in a quiet, orderly place where you can fully concentrate and keep your mind in “work mode”. This is especially important for call center folks because it’s usually a big no-no for their callers to hear background noise (such as crying children or barking dogs).
Sites such as Lifehacker.com offer work-at-home professionals plenty of ideas on creating an uncluttered workspace. If your floor area is limited for instance (such as in my case), make use of the walls by mounting shelves which can be bought at DIY stores.
Also, you’ll need to invest in a reliable desktop or laptop since this is instrumental to earning your keep. Most employers are particular about machine specifications, so get a technically-savvy friend or relative to take you shopping if you need help picking out a computer.
The same goes for your Internet connection as this is what makes telecommuting possible in the first place. In the same breath, get ready to troubleshoot any computer and Internet-related issues you may run into, or have the same folks who took you shopping to help you out.
All in all, working at home definitely has advantages over going to a regular office. It’s just a matter of looking out for the inherent challenges that come with the territory and dealing with them appropriately. If properly managed, you’ll be left with a lot more time for other things aside from working all day – or crashing into unwary cabbies.
How To Use Craigslist.com To Find A Telecommuting Job
How To Use Craigslist.com To Find A Telecommuting Job
Telecommuting is a wonderful option for anyone who would prefer working at home to working in an employer’s office. The benefits of having a telecommuting job are immense especially for parents who want to be at home with young children. Imagine having an extra hour in the morning and evening to spend with your family because you don’t have any drive time. Also imagine not having to spend as much time or money on the clothes required to work in a professional office. Granted, you may have to go to an occasional outside meeting every once in a while, but for the most part, it’ll just be you and your computer and the computer doesn’t care what you wear.
Finding a telecommuting job isn’t always easy but for the well-skilled job seeker, there are many jobs to be found. Tenacity and patience are the attributes you will need to make your way through the maze of finding the job you’re seeking. Below is outlined one resource’ Craigslist.com ‘ that you can use when you start your search for a telecommuting job. This is not the only resource available to you, it’s just one of many, but it’s a good place to start. The jobs are there, you just need to find them.
Craigslist.com is a national classified ad website where a lot of great jobs get posted, including those looking for work at home telecommuters. The website is free to read and it’s free to post as well. It’s become a very popular place to find jobs that are available. This article will explain how to find the telecommuting jobs that are advertised.
To find telecommuting jobs, first go to . Click on any city in the right-hand column, and then choose a job type in the column to the left of the city column. It doesn’t matter what type of job category you choose, we’re going to change that choice anyway.
Once you get to the next page, you’ll see a search box at the top of the page. Leave the KEYWORDS field blank and change the drop-down box to ALL JOBS. Then place a check mark in the Telecommute box. Click Search. All the telecommuting jobs for the city you chose will post to the page.
You will need to click into each job separately to determine if it is a legitimate job posting or not. Often you will also find regular jobs posted as telecommuting jobs, so read the postings carefully. Watch out for the postings that offer more money than what you know to be a normal pay range for the job you’re seeking, they are probably scams. Also, be careful about going to interviews, if it’s not in an office building where other people are around, like at someone’s house, either pass on the offer or explain to the interviewer that with internet fraud as bad as it is, you would feel more comfortable meeting in a public place like a restaurant or a coffee house.
CraigsList doesn’t offer a feature to search the entire country and it’s a shame because it makes this type of research very time consuming having to check each city individually. It may be easier for you to set a “Favorites” folder with all the searches so you can get to each city quickly. You should consider checking every major city since telecommuting can be done from anywhere in the country. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a tiny town in Texas and the company is located in New York City or Los Angeles. Just be sure to watch the ad to be sure it doesn’t request you to be local to the employer, some require periodic meetings in their office. And lastly, be sure to only apply to the most recent entries as these jobs go quickly, no need to waste your time applying for a job that’s already filled.
Good luck with your job search. A little hard work along with some patience while seeking out the jobs should help you to be employed in no time.
How To Use Craigslist.com To Find A Telecommuting Job
Telecommuting is a wonderful option for anyone who would prefer working at home to working in an employer’s office. The benefits of having a telecommuting job are immense especially for parents who want to be at home with young children. Imagine having an extra hour in the morning and evening to spend with your family because you don’t have any drive time. Also imagine not having to spend as much time or money on the clothes required to work in a professional office. Granted, you may have to go to an occasional outside meeting every once in a while, but for the most part, it’ll just be you and your computer and the computer doesn’t care what you wear.
Finding a telecommuting job isn’t always easy but for the well-skilled job seeker, there are many jobs to be found. Tenacity and patience are the attributes you will need to make your way through the maze of finding the job you’re seeking. Below is outlined one resource’ Craigslist.com ‘ that you can use when you start your search for a telecommuting job. This is not the only resource available to you, it’s just one of many, but it’s a good place to start. The jobs are there, you just need to find them.
Craigslist.com is a national classified ad website where a lot of great jobs get posted, including those looking for work at home telecommuters. The website is free to read and it’s free to post as well. It’s become a very popular place to find jobs that are available. This article will explain how to find the telecommuting jobs that are advertised.
To find telecommuting jobs, first go to . Click on any city in the right-hand column, and then choose a job type in the column to the left of the city column. It doesn’t matter what type of job category you choose, we’re going to change that choice anyway.
Once you get to the next page, you’ll see a search box at the top of the page. Leave the KEYWORDS field blank and change the drop-down box to ALL JOBS. Then place a check mark in the Telecommute box. Click Search. All the telecommuting jobs for the city you chose will post to the page.
You will need to click into each job separately to determine if it is a legitimate job posting or not. Often you will also find regular jobs posted as telecommuting jobs, so read the postings carefully. Watch out for the postings that offer more money than what you know to be a normal pay range for the job you’re seeking, they are probably scams. Also, be careful about going to interviews, if it’s not in an office building where other people are around, like at someone’s house, either pass on the offer or explain to the interviewer that with internet fraud as bad as it is, you would feel more comfortable meeting in a public place like a restaurant or a coffee house.
CraigsList doesn’t offer a feature to search the entire country and it’s a shame because it makes this type of research very time consuming having to check each city individually. It may be easier for you to set a “Favorites” folder with all the searches so you can get to each city quickly. You should consider checking every major city since telecommuting can be done from anywhere in the country. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a tiny town in Texas and the company is located in New York City or Los Angeles. Just be sure to watch the ad to be sure it doesn’t request you to be local to the employer, some require periodic meetings in their office. And lastly, be sure to only apply to the most recent entries as these jobs go quickly, no need to waste your time applying for a job that’s already filled.
Good luck with your job search. A little hard work along with some patience while seeking out the jobs should help you to be employed in no time.
How To Use Craigslist.com To Find A Telecommuting Job
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Fresh Way to Answer Your Calling
Fresh way to answer your calling
Keach Hagey
Last Updated: January 25. 2010 11:38PM UAE / January 25. 2010 7:38PM GMT
Walid Halani, an Ajman resident whose work in Dubai as a translator requires a three-hour commute, has been telecommuting for the past year. Charles Crowell for The National
If Walid Halani wants to make it from his home in Ajman to his translating job in Dubai in reasonable time, he has to leave at 5am to miss the morning rush hour.
And even then, Mr Halani, 33, can expect to spend three hours of his day on the road.
Add the flexible nature of his work, and he is a perfect candidate for telecommuting, a form of working from home through e-mail and telephone that has been gaining popularity globally as broadband internet penetration increases.
“I told my boss that the nature of my work as a translator doesn’t require me to be at the office all the time, because most of my work can be delivered by e-mail,” Mr Halani says. “So I can save my time and the company’s time by spending less time on the road.”
A recent study by Bayt.com, the Middle East jobs site, found that 72 per cent of the region’s professionals agree with him that telecommuting has benefits for the employer and the employee.
Mr Halani’s boss, Mamoon Sbeih, the managing director of JiWin Public Relations, says he supports his employee’s choice to telecommute for the past year as it increases his efficiency.
“He comes in one or two days a week to interact with colleagues and to understand what they need,” Mr Sbeih says. “But in general, because he’s a translator, I get much more out of him when he’s relaxed and he doesn’t need to drive in from Ajman.”
The arrangement has worked well largely because there is trust on both sides. Mr Halani worked for JiWin for three years before he began telecommuting.
Bayt.com’s research underscores the importance of trust in telecommuting. The survey shows 40 per cent of respondents agreed that self-disciplined employees with excellent performance records would be able to telecommute, while 18 per cent agree that employees who do not have face-to-face interaction with customers or colleagues would be suited to it.
A further 11 per cent say the practice would be suited to working mothers.
“It is interesting that so many of the region’s respondents feel that telecommuting would be most suited to employees that are self-motivated and good workers, presumably because of the perception that with telecommuting comes a number of distractions … and also from the idea that without the watchful eye of a boss and other colleagues, some employees would not always be inclined to work,” says Lama Ataya, the director of marketing and corporate communications at Bayt.com.
Mr Halani is not free from some of the anxieties that telecommuting can cause.
“It has some advantages and some disadvantages,” he says. “Because you are home you can spend more time with your family and children, but at the same time you are working away from the office so you don’t know what’s happening in the office.
“Your boss doesn’t know what you are doing. He may think you are sleeping or playing or wasting your time at home, when really I am working very hard to deliver my work before the deadline.”
And telecommuting does not work in every industry. Sam Husaini, the managing director of the advertising and marketing firm Impact BBDO in Abu Dhabi, says Abu Dhabi’s high rents compared with Dubai’s forced some of his employees in the past to live in Dubai and commute daily, but he has tried to avoid this as much as possible.
Mr Husaini did have a few people telecommuting last year but he stopped it as soon as he could.
“At the end of the day, when it comes to coming up with good thinking and good work, you cannot replace the fact that face-to-face interaction is needed,” he says.
“Generally, I insist that everybody be based in Abu Dhabi so that we can spend more time with our clients.”
In the Bayt.com survey, 18 per cent of the respondents say their company does not support telecommuting.
“That almost a fifth of the region’s workplaces do not support telecommuting might not be a reflection of organisational reluctance; rather it might be that certain industries simply will not benefit from it,” Mr Ataya says.
“Telecommuting has been shown around the world to be highly useful to many types of organisation but, as with any new service technology, one size does not fit all.”
Mr Halani said that while he loves being able to spend more time with his children, who are 1 and 4 years old, their requests to go to the park or offers to “help” with his translating add an extra challenge to meeting his afternoon deadline. Not to mention the cabin fever.
“If I could afford to take an apartment in Dubai, I would not work from home,” he says. “You can’t stay at home 24 hours a day.”
khagey@thenational.ae
Keach Hagey
Last Updated: January 25. 2010 11:38PM UAE / January 25. 2010 7:38PM GMT
Walid Halani, an Ajman resident whose work in Dubai as a translator requires a three-hour commute, has been telecommuting for the past year. Charles Crowell for The National
If Walid Halani wants to make it from his home in Ajman to his translating job in Dubai in reasonable time, he has to leave at 5am to miss the morning rush hour.
And even then, Mr Halani, 33, can expect to spend three hours of his day on the road.
Add the flexible nature of his work, and he is a perfect candidate for telecommuting, a form of working from home through e-mail and telephone that has been gaining popularity globally as broadband internet penetration increases.
“I told my boss that the nature of my work as a translator doesn’t require me to be at the office all the time, because most of my work can be delivered by e-mail,” Mr Halani says. “So I can save my time and the company’s time by spending less time on the road.”
A recent study by Bayt.com, the Middle East jobs site, found that 72 per cent of the region’s professionals agree with him that telecommuting has benefits for the employer and the employee.
Mr Halani’s boss, Mamoon Sbeih, the managing director of JiWin Public Relations, says he supports his employee’s choice to telecommute for the past year as it increases his efficiency.
“He comes in one or two days a week to interact with colleagues and to understand what they need,” Mr Sbeih says. “But in general, because he’s a translator, I get much more out of him when he’s relaxed and he doesn’t need to drive in from Ajman.”
The arrangement has worked well largely because there is trust on both sides. Mr Halani worked for JiWin for three years before he began telecommuting.
Bayt.com’s research underscores the importance of trust in telecommuting. The survey shows 40 per cent of respondents agreed that self-disciplined employees with excellent performance records would be able to telecommute, while 18 per cent agree that employees who do not have face-to-face interaction with customers or colleagues would be suited to it.
A further 11 per cent say the practice would be suited to working mothers.
“It is interesting that so many of the region’s respondents feel that telecommuting would be most suited to employees that are self-motivated and good workers, presumably because of the perception that with telecommuting comes a number of distractions … and also from the idea that without the watchful eye of a boss and other colleagues, some employees would not always be inclined to work,” says Lama Ataya, the director of marketing and corporate communications at Bayt.com.
Mr Halani is not free from some of the anxieties that telecommuting can cause.
“It has some advantages and some disadvantages,” he says. “Because you are home you can spend more time with your family and children, but at the same time you are working away from the office so you don’t know what’s happening in the office.
“Your boss doesn’t know what you are doing. He may think you are sleeping or playing or wasting your time at home, when really I am working very hard to deliver my work before the deadline.”
And telecommuting does not work in every industry. Sam Husaini, the managing director of the advertising and marketing firm Impact BBDO in Abu Dhabi, says Abu Dhabi’s high rents compared with Dubai’s forced some of his employees in the past to live in Dubai and commute daily, but he has tried to avoid this as much as possible.
Mr Husaini did have a few people telecommuting last year but he stopped it as soon as he could.
“At the end of the day, when it comes to coming up with good thinking and good work, you cannot replace the fact that face-to-face interaction is needed,” he says.
“Generally, I insist that everybody be based in Abu Dhabi so that we can spend more time with our clients.”
In the Bayt.com survey, 18 per cent of the respondents say their company does not support telecommuting.
“That almost a fifth of the region’s workplaces do not support telecommuting might not be a reflection of organisational reluctance; rather it might be that certain industries simply will not benefit from it,” Mr Ataya says.
“Telecommuting has been shown around the world to be highly useful to many types of organisation but, as with any new service technology, one size does not fit all.”
Mr Halani said that while he loves being able to spend more time with his children, who are 1 and 4 years old, their requests to go to the park or offers to “help” with his translating add an extra challenge to meeting his afternoon deadline. Not to mention the cabin fever.
“If I could afford to take an apartment in Dubai, I would not work from home,” he says. “You can’t stay at home 24 hours a day.”
khagey@thenational.ae
Your Career: Telecommuting Productively
Your Career: Telecommuting productively
By: The Associated Press | 25 Jan 2010 | 03:32 PM ET Text Size CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Call it the workplace of the future: your home.
One way that companies are downsizing is to have employees work at home. When staffers telecommute, businesses can save money by moving to smaller quarters or consolidating separate locations into one.
Many workers are glad to have the opportunity. They join the people who have been telecommuting by choice ever since computers and high-speed Internet connections made working at home easier. Telecommuting can give employees a better work-life balance, and they save time and money when they're not traveling to work and buying coffee and lunch.
Still, workplace consultants and company executives say telecommuting can take some, well, work for someone who needs to adjust after years in an office. Some tips for making the transition:
BECOMING A TELECOMMUTER
It can take discipline to work at home. A telecommuter needs to be able to schedule realistically, prioritize and be able to stay focused on work despite distractions like children, pets, even the refrigerator.
"You can't be a person who thrives on boss-imposed deadlines and a boss looking over your shoulder," said Alexandra Levit, author of "New Job, New You," and an adviser to the Obama administration on workplace issues.
A brand-new telecommuter also has some logistics to work out. That means talking to the boss about what you'll need, and who's going to pay for it. Will you be using your own personal computer? If so, will you need to upgrade it to handle your workload? Will you need other equipment, like a fax machine or Web cam? What about an extra phone line?
If you have a family, you'll have to integrate the changes in your job into your children's routine. But remember that your work needs to be a priority. For example, if your kids want you to stop working when they come home from school so they can tell you how their day went, they need to know you can't always listen.
Leslie Truex, author of "The Work at Home Success Bible," said a boss may not care about a telecommuter's child-care issues.
"He will care if it saves him or the company money, or if makes his job easier," she said.
Some companies, however, may be flexible about working hours, so telecommuters can pick up their children from school or take them to soccer games. In return, an employee may be working earlier in the morning or later at night to get the work done.
ESTABLISHING A ROUTINE
Many telecommuters find working at home isn't quite as easy as they expected.
When Tory Patrick's public relations firm gave her the option to telecommute two years ago so she could move to Washington, D.C., from Orlando, Fla. with her husband, she took it.
"At first I was like, 'Wow, I can work from home in my pajamas,'" Patrick said. "I quickly learned it you can't work like that."
Experts say establishing a routine — getting dressed, going to a set work place in your home, taking a lunch break — is key.
It's also a good idea to check in with managers just as workers would do if they were still in the office. Patrick sets aside time to talk to her boss, sometimes scheduling a weekly meeting.
While it's a good idea to maintain a daily schedule so you can stay productive, Jayne Nanavaty-Dahl, manager of IBM Corp.'s group for work-at-home employees, said it's easy to overwork when you're telecommuting. When you don't have to leave the office to catch a train or make the drive home, it can be tempting to stay in front of the PC for just a few minutes more, and then find you've worked an extra hour or two.
"We make sure our employees know that at the end of their scheduled work day, they can stop working," Nanavaty-Dahl said.
Last year, InCharge Institute of America Inc., a large, nonprofit credit counseling organization based in Orlando, Fla., made a commitment to telecommuting. They asked 100 employees, including counselor Mary Jones to work from home.
"Time management was scary," Jones said. "I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to do it."
But she figured it out. Now, she said, "if I had to go back into the office, I'd quit.
BEING VISIBLE
When you work away from a traditional office, your colleagues and managers can't see or interact with you in the usual way. There's no stopping by a co-worker's desk or chatting with the boss in the break room. It can be harder to communicate and establish necessary working relationships.
IBM offers social networking tools to help employees discuss workplace matters. And telecommuters should be sure they stay in touch via phone, Internet chats and social media Web sites.
It's also a good idea to show up in the office from time to time, especially if you supervise other people. Make sure people see your face.
"Being there in person, that's how relationships are established," Truex said. "Sometimes if those relationships lapse, you are not being effective, or productive, anymore."
BEING EVALUATED
When employees work remotely, managers may question if those staffers actually working. The telecommuter can easily put those questions to rest.
Jones, the credit counselor, said that if she's not logged onto her home computer or queued up on the phone lines, she's not doing her job. "My job is still a call center, but I'm not in a call center environment," she said. So when she's connected online with her company, her boss can see that she is indeed working.
Patrick, the public relations account manager, is evaluated by her output.
"If there is a press release that needs to be done by Tuesday, I've got to do it whether I'm in the office or working at home," she said.
Truex said that when a worker is not in the office they are held much more accountable than those who are onsite.
"My advice: Work," she said.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
© 2010 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
A Division of NBC Universal
By: The Associated Press | 25 Jan 2010 | 03:32 PM ET Text Size CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Call it the workplace of the future: your home.
One way that companies are downsizing is to have employees work at home. When staffers telecommute, businesses can save money by moving to smaller quarters or consolidating separate locations into one.
Many workers are glad to have the opportunity. They join the people who have been telecommuting by choice ever since computers and high-speed Internet connections made working at home easier. Telecommuting can give employees a better work-life balance, and they save time and money when they're not traveling to work and buying coffee and lunch.
Still, workplace consultants and company executives say telecommuting can take some, well, work for someone who needs to adjust after years in an office. Some tips for making the transition:
BECOMING A TELECOMMUTER
It can take discipline to work at home. A telecommuter needs to be able to schedule realistically, prioritize and be able to stay focused on work despite distractions like children, pets, even the refrigerator.
"You can't be a person who thrives on boss-imposed deadlines and a boss looking over your shoulder," said Alexandra Levit, author of "New Job, New You," and an adviser to the Obama administration on workplace issues.
A brand-new telecommuter also has some logistics to work out. That means talking to the boss about what you'll need, and who's going to pay for it. Will you be using your own personal computer? If so, will you need to upgrade it to handle your workload? Will you need other equipment, like a fax machine or Web cam? What about an extra phone line?
If you have a family, you'll have to integrate the changes in your job into your children's routine. But remember that your work needs to be a priority. For example, if your kids want you to stop working when they come home from school so they can tell you how their day went, they need to know you can't always listen.
Leslie Truex, author of "The Work at Home Success Bible," said a boss may not care about a telecommuter's child-care issues.
"He will care if it saves him or the company money, or if makes his job easier," she said.
Some companies, however, may be flexible about working hours, so telecommuters can pick up their children from school or take them to soccer games. In return, an employee may be working earlier in the morning or later at night to get the work done.
ESTABLISHING A ROUTINE
Many telecommuters find working at home isn't quite as easy as they expected.
When Tory Patrick's public relations firm gave her the option to telecommute two years ago so she could move to Washington, D.C., from Orlando, Fla. with her husband, she took it.
"At first I was like, 'Wow, I can work from home in my pajamas,'" Patrick said. "I quickly learned it you can't work like that."
Experts say establishing a routine — getting dressed, going to a set work place in your home, taking a lunch break — is key.
It's also a good idea to check in with managers just as workers would do if they were still in the office. Patrick sets aside time to talk to her boss, sometimes scheduling a weekly meeting.
While it's a good idea to maintain a daily schedule so you can stay productive, Jayne Nanavaty-Dahl, manager of IBM Corp.'s group for work-at-home employees, said it's easy to overwork when you're telecommuting. When you don't have to leave the office to catch a train or make the drive home, it can be tempting to stay in front of the PC for just a few minutes more, and then find you've worked an extra hour or two.
"We make sure our employees know that at the end of their scheduled work day, they can stop working," Nanavaty-Dahl said.
Last year, InCharge Institute of America Inc., a large, nonprofit credit counseling organization based in Orlando, Fla., made a commitment to telecommuting. They asked 100 employees, including counselor Mary Jones to work from home.
"Time management was scary," Jones said. "I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to do it."
But she figured it out. Now, she said, "if I had to go back into the office, I'd quit.
BEING VISIBLE
When you work away from a traditional office, your colleagues and managers can't see or interact with you in the usual way. There's no stopping by a co-worker's desk or chatting with the boss in the break room. It can be harder to communicate and establish necessary working relationships.
IBM offers social networking tools to help employees discuss workplace matters. And telecommuters should be sure they stay in touch via phone, Internet chats and social media Web sites.
It's also a good idea to show up in the office from time to time, especially if you supervise other people. Make sure people see your face.
"Being there in person, that's how relationships are established," Truex said. "Sometimes if those relationships lapse, you are not being effective, or productive, anymore."
BEING EVALUATED
When employees work remotely, managers may question if those staffers actually working. The telecommuter can easily put those questions to rest.
Jones, the credit counselor, said that if she's not logged onto her home computer or queued up on the phone lines, she's not doing her job. "My job is still a call center, but I'm not in a call center environment," she said. So when she's connected online with her company, her boss can see that she is indeed working.
Patrick, the public relations account manager, is evaluated by her output.
"If there is a press release that needs to be done by Tuesday, I've got to do it whether I'm in the office or working at home," she said.
Truex said that when a worker is not in the office they are held much more accountable than those who are onsite.
"My advice: Work," she said.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
© 2010 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
A Division of NBC Universal
Monday, January 25, 2010
Work at Home Telecommuting as a Call Center Agent
Work at Home Telecommuting as a Call Center Agent
If you are looking online for jobs you can do at home, you will undoubtedly have come across many home business opportunities where you get to do work such as affiliate marketing or joining an MLM program. Opportunities and advice on starting your own home business are advertised all over the Internet, however, real jobs you can do at home are nigh on impossible to locate.
Why is this? Well, for a start, not all jobs are suitable for home based employment so the opportunities for working at home are reduced. Another reason is that employers have been slow to catch on to the idea of employing staff to work at home. Instead of considering the massive savings they could make in terms of office space, lighting, heating and so on, employers focus on the fact that they will be unable to directly supervise their staff members. If staff are paid by results, they have a better chance of finding jobs where they can work from home than if they were paid a set hourly rate.
All these things combine to limit the number of work at home jobs available. Demand for work at home jobs currently far exceeds the supply. There are, however, a couple of areas where real work at home jobs are becoming more plentiful; one area where the number of jobs at home on offer are increasing is in call-center work.
Anyone who has needed to contact a company’s Customer Service Department and has been routed to a call-center will know that many of them are based overseas but there is a less well-known trend for hiring more local call-center staff. Between 2000 and 2007 the number of home-based call-center employees in the USA tripled. According to research conducted by Yankee Group there are more than 670,000 work at home phone agents employed in the USA and Canada alone.
Working at home as a call-center agent has many of the advantages of running your own home business including the obvious ones such as flexible working hours and no commuting. You are, however, an employee just as much as if you were working in your employer’s building and your earning potential is dictated by how much work the employer provides. Home-based call-center workers are normally contractors who are paid for the actual number of minutes they spend on the phone to customers. Working hours, although flexible, have to be sanctioned by the employer, so you can’t just decide to change your hours without giving any notice.
Hourly rates of pay for work at home call-center staff are not particularly high and depend upon the type of work undertaken. For example if your job is to simply take down customer orders over the phone, you will not earn as much as you would providing technical support or in a position requiring sales skills.
When considering the rates of pay for a home-based call-center agent job, you need to take into account that by working at home, you will be saving money. For example, you won’t have to pay for fares or fuel, you won’t have to maintain a working-clothes wardrobe and, if you are a parent (as most people who want to work at home are), you won’t have to pay expensive child-care fees. Despite the comparatively low rates of pay, telecommuting as a call-center agent is worth considering if you want a job where you can work at home.
To find sources of legitimate telecommuting work, visit Elaine Currie’s Work At Home Directory at http://www.huntingvenus.com while you are there, pick up a free copy of Ezine Article Writing – 10 Steps To Success at: http://www.huntingvenus.com/free_ezine_articles_writing_ebook.shtml
If you are looking online for jobs you can do at home, you will undoubtedly have come across many home business opportunities where you get to do work such as affiliate marketing or joining an MLM program. Opportunities and advice on starting your own home business are advertised all over the Internet, however, real jobs you can do at home are nigh on impossible to locate.
Why is this? Well, for a start, not all jobs are suitable for home based employment so the opportunities for working at home are reduced. Another reason is that employers have been slow to catch on to the idea of employing staff to work at home. Instead of considering the massive savings they could make in terms of office space, lighting, heating and so on, employers focus on the fact that they will be unable to directly supervise their staff members. If staff are paid by results, they have a better chance of finding jobs where they can work from home than if they were paid a set hourly rate.
All these things combine to limit the number of work at home jobs available. Demand for work at home jobs currently far exceeds the supply. There are, however, a couple of areas where real work at home jobs are becoming more plentiful; one area where the number of jobs at home on offer are increasing is in call-center work.
Anyone who has needed to contact a company’s Customer Service Department and has been routed to a call-center will know that many of them are based overseas but there is a less well-known trend for hiring more local call-center staff. Between 2000 and 2007 the number of home-based call-center employees in the USA tripled. According to research conducted by Yankee Group there are more than 670,000 work at home phone agents employed in the USA and Canada alone.
Working at home as a call-center agent has many of the advantages of running your own home business including the obvious ones such as flexible working hours and no commuting. You are, however, an employee just as much as if you were working in your employer’s building and your earning potential is dictated by how much work the employer provides. Home-based call-center workers are normally contractors who are paid for the actual number of minutes they spend on the phone to customers. Working hours, although flexible, have to be sanctioned by the employer, so you can’t just decide to change your hours without giving any notice.
Hourly rates of pay for work at home call-center staff are not particularly high and depend upon the type of work undertaken. For example if your job is to simply take down customer orders over the phone, you will not earn as much as you would providing technical support or in a position requiring sales skills.
When considering the rates of pay for a home-based call-center agent job, you need to take into account that by working at home, you will be saving money. For example, you won’t have to pay for fares or fuel, you won’t have to maintain a working-clothes wardrobe and, if you are a parent (as most people who want to work at home are), you won’t have to pay expensive child-care fees. Despite the comparatively low rates of pay, telecommuting as a call-center agent is worth considering if you want a job where you can work at home.
To find sources of legitimate telecommuting work, visit Elaine Currie’s Work At Home Directory at http://www.huntingvenus.com while you are there, pick up a free copy of Ezine Article Writing – 10 Steps To Success at: http://www.huntingvenus.com/free_ezine_articles_writing_ebook.shtml
Friday, January 22, 2010
The office is dead. Long live the office
The office is dead. Long live the office.
January 21, 2010 10:00 AM
Forget “work from home” – today’s mobile employee works from anywhere (and everywhere!)
By Bruce Chatterley, CEO, Speakeasy
It isn’t exactly a news flash that the workforce of today spends increasingly more time away from the traditional office building. But these employees aren’t just telecommuting.
No longer tethered to their desks, employees now move freely between work, home and anywhere else. And they expect that they can do their work on the go without sacrificing the benefits of in-office technology. Beyond the work-from-home movement, this pattern is what we call the work-from-anywhere phenomenon.
Forrester Research recently conducted a study on the telecommuting workforce, noting two thirds of information workers (or what Forrester calls ‘iWorkers’) want more flexibility in their work hours. Consequently, 11% of the Forrester survey respondents reported they have a smartphone from work, while 33 % reported using their own device to work remotely. And they’re using their devices everywhere — 81% from home, 62% while traveling, and 64% at work.
Do all of these facts and figures mean the traditional office is dead or dying? Not exactly.
But they do signal that the work-from-anywhere phenomenon is on the rise. As a result, Speakeasy has seen an increase in the adoption of hosted voice (voice-over-IP) services, which includes a feature called Remote Office that allows employees to use one number when making or receiving calls, consistently reflecting an ‘in-office’ appearance, whether the employee is in the office, at home, on the road or on a beach in Aruba.
These types of mobility features are critical for companies like Ballast Realty, a Boston-based realty firm with a largely mobile workforce. Ballast uses Speakeasy Hosted Voice, enabling its agents to use mobile IP calling features such as hunt groups, advanced call forwarding and remote office capabilities. This allows Ballast employees to easily route business calls to their mobile devices while on the road, and also allows them to make calls from their mobile devices that to their clients, appear to be made from their office number.
Laptops and other mobile computing devices can also be equipped with these types of features, allowing employees to make and receive calls, retrieve voicemail, and manage their entire office phone system remotely.
As companies continue to navigate the challenging economic environment, it is becoming apparent that virtual technology is more than just a trend, and is in fact a necessity to allow for more work in more places. With the increasing use of hosted voice applications, laptops and netbooks, smartphones, and new communications applications for these devices, the work-from-anywhere phenomenon has arrived.
Chatterley is CEO of Speakeasy, a Seattle-based unit of Best Buy (BBY) that provides broadband voice (VoIP), data and IT services to small businesses.
January 21, 2010 10:00 AM
Forget “work from home” – today’s mobile employee works from anywhere (and everywhere!)
By Bruce Chatterley, CEO, Speakeasy
It isn’t exactly a news flash that the workforce of today spends increasingly more time away from the traditional office building. But these employees aren’t just telecommuting.
No longer tethered to their desks, employees now move freely between work, home and anywhere else. And they expect that they can do their work on the go without sacrificing the benefits of in-office technology. Beyond the work-from-home movement, this pattern is what we call the work-from-anywhere phenomenon.
Forrester Research recently conducted a study on the telecommuting workforce, noting two thirds of information workers (or what Forrester calls ‘iWorkers’) want more flexibility in their work hours. Consequently, 11% of the Forrester survey respondents reported they have a smartphone from work, while 33 % reported using their own device to work remotely. And they’re using their devices everywhere — 81% from home, 62% while traveling, and 64% at work.
Do all of these facts and figures mean the traditional office is dead or dying? Not exactly.
But they do signal that the work-from-anywhere phenomenon is on the rise. As a result, Speakeasy has seen an increase in the adoption of hosted voice (voice-over-IP) services, which includes a feature called Remote Office that allows employees to use one number when making or receiving calls, consistently reflecting an ‘in-office’ appearance, whether the employee is in the office, at home, on the road or on a beach in Aruba.
These types of mobility features are critical for companies like Ballast Realty, a Boston-based realty firm with a largely mobile workforce. Ballast uses Speakeasy Hosted Voice, enabling its agents to use mobile IP calling features such as hunt groups, advanced call forwarding and remote office capabilities. This allows Ballast employees to easily route business calls to their mobile devices while on the road, and also allows them to make calls from their mobile devices that to their clients, appear to be made from their office number.
Laptops and other mobile computing devices can also be equipped with these types of features, allowing employees to make and receive calls, retrieve voicemail, and manage their entire office phone system remotely.
As companies continue to navigate the challenging economic environment, it is becoming apparent that virtual technology is more than just a trend, and is in fact a necessity to allow for more work in more places. With the increasing use of hosted voice applications, laptops and netbooks, smartphones, and new communications applications for these devices, the work-from-anywhere phenomenon has arrived.
Chatterley is CEO of Speakeasy, a Seattle-based unit of Best Buy (BBY) that provides broadband voice (VoIP), data and IT services to small businesses.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Options to Consider when doing your Telecommuting Job Search
In the first article we talked about a few types of telecommuting positions. That article only skimmed the surface of what's really available to you.
Here are a few more options to consider when doing your telecommuting job search:
Help Desk
Help desk kind of goes along the lines of customer service agent. The main difference is the help desk focuses their help on a certain aspect of the company. For example, one could be helping customers with software issues, computer problems or a particular product problem.
This kind of position would require you to have some experience in whatever part of the job you would be helping with. Knowledge in that area would also be important for this position. There are some companies that will hire someone with little or no experience and train them on what they need to, but they aren't seen as often.
Web Designer
If you have any on the job experience designing websites or if you have done some well-crafted sites for yourself or friends, then this could be an option for you to look into. Web designing is always needed with someone online.
Everyday websites are going up and the people who own these site domains need a well designed place to put their content. Most of these people know that a high quality site will bring them closer to success than a poorly crafted one, so they will find someone who can help them out.
There are many companies who will hire a team of designers to work on their clients' sites and there are others that will hire someone to work on their own sites. You will need to have good designing software or tools to be able to get one of these jobs, should you feel you would like to try your hand at it.
Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant who basically performs administrative duties from their home office. They can perform several types of duties, such as data entry, customer service, bookkeeping, web designing, writing, telemarketing, sales and transcription. Not all virtual assistants do the same duties, as each company has different needs.
If you can do some basic administrative duties, you can still get a position as a virtual assistant. You may not be paid as much as those who can do more skilled jobs, but it gives you a chance to hone your skills to gain more experience for the higher paid virtual assistant jobs.
These are some of the more common types of telecommuting jobs available. The list, of course, goes on to include several more. Jobs like, data entry, graphic artist, web developer, accounting, writing, and proofreading.
Before you start to look for a telecommuting position, you should take a look at yourself and see what skills or experiences you do have. When you know which type of position works for your skill set, then you can narrow your job searching down to that type of job, instead of just looking at hundreds of job ads trying to decide what to do.
Nell Taliercio has been working at home full time since 2004. She's worked as a telecommuter, virtual assistant and affiliate marketer. In 5 years she's discovered many secrets to finding legitimate work at home jobs and securing them. You can find work at home job information and tips at: http://www.justonlinejobs.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nell_Taliercio
Here are a few more options to consider when doing your telecommuting job search:
Help Desk
Help desk kind of goes along the lines of customer service agent. The main difference is the help desk focuses their help on a certain aspect of the company. For example, one could be helping customers with software issues, computer problems or a particular product problem.
This kind of position would require you to have some experience in whatever part of the job you would be helping with. Knowledge in that area would also be important for this position. There are some companies that will hire someone with little or no experience and train them on what they need to, but they aren't seen as often.
Web Designer
If you have any on the job experience designing websites or if you have done some well-crafted sites for yourself or friends, then this could be an option for you to look into. Web designing is always needed with someone online.
Everyday websites are going up and the people who own these site domains need a well designed place to put their content. Most of these people know that a high quality site will bring them closer to success than a poorly crafted one, so they will find someone who can help them out.
There are many companies who will hire a team of designers to work on their clients' sites and there are others that will hire someone to work on their own sites. You will need to have good designing software or tools to be able to get one of these jobs, should you feel you would like to try your hand at it.
Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant who basically performs administrative duties from their home office. They can perform several types of duties, such as data entry, customer service, bookkeeping, web designing, writing, telemarketing, sales and transcription. Not all virtual assistants do the same duties, as each company has different needs.
If you can do some basic administrative duties, you can still get a position as a virtual assistant. You may not be paid as much as those who can do more skilled jobs, but it gives you a chance to hone your skills to gain more experience for the higher paid virtual assistant jobs.
These are some of the more common types of telecommuting jobs available. The list, of course, goes on to include several more. Jobs like, data entry, graphic artist, web developer, accounting, writing, and proofreading.
Before you start to look for a telecommuting position, you should take a look at yourself and see what skills or experiences you do have. When you know which type of position works for your skill set, then you can narrow your job searching down to that type of job, instead of just looking at hundreds of job ads trying to decide what to do.
Nell Taliercio has been working at home full time since 2004. She's worked as a telecommuter, virtual assistant and affiliate marketer. In 5 years she's discovered many secrets to finding legitimate work at home jobs and securing them. You can find work at home job information and tips at: http://www.justonlinejobs.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nell_Taliercio
Monday, January 4, 2010
Telecommuting_101_Take_the_First_Step
Telecommuting_101_Take_the_First_Step from the American Bar Association last April.
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