Top 5 Career Fields Hiring for Telecommuting and Flexible Jobs from FlexJobs

FlexJobs, the leading job service for work at home, part-time, contract, and freelance job listings, has just released its Flexible Job Index (FJI) data for September.

Boulder, CO (PRWEB) October 07, 2011

FlexJobs' Flexible Job Index (FJI) for September shows big fluctuations in the top 25 fields hiring for telecommuting, part-time, freelance, and flexible employment. Notable changes include an 87% increase in Data Entry jobs and a 32% decrease in available Writing jobs. The top five fields with the most flexible jobs include:
1.     Medical & Health
2.     Education
3.     Sales
4.     Computer & IT
5.     Administrative


In contrast, it's been a tougher month for job seekers hoping to secure flexible employment in fields that saw a decrease in job listings, including Writing (which saw a drop of 32% in available job postings as mentioned), Web Design (with a drop of 23%), and Graphic Design (with a 22% drop).
On the positive side, applicants searching for jobs in Data Entry found 87% more postings in September than in August. Additionally, the other top career fields that gained the most volume of telecommuting and flexible job postings in September were Accounting & Finance (up by 28.4%), Consulting (up by 27.8%), Business Development (up by 20%), and Customer Service (up by 15%). The increases reflect growth in the number of available jobs in these fields.


"In our recent data, we've continued to see strong growth in professional fields that people might not typically associate with telecommuting and flexible jobs," Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of FlexJobs stated. "But the truth is that telecommuting and flexible jobs are much, much more widespread than they're given credit for."


Along those lines, FlexJobs highlights some of the surprising jobs amongst their hiring for new telecommuting job listings in September, including: Marine Species Observer (telecommuting and flexible schedule), CEO (telecommuting), State Director of Nursing (telecommuting and flexible schedule), and a History & Ethnic Studies Instructor (part-time and telecommuting).


The ongoing Flexible Job Index demonstrates the growing diversity in the employment market for flexible jobs, and provides reliable data on top career fields that offer work flexibility. Data includes positions listed on the site directly by employers as well as jobs found by FlexJobs' trained staff of researchers who scour hundreds of online sources, including industry blogs, employer websites, job boards, job feeds, and more. Only professional jobs that can both be confirmed as legitimate and as having some kind of work flexibility (telecommuting, part-time or flexible schedule, or freelance contracts) are included in the job database.


The interactive Quarterly Flexible Job Trend Report can be viewed by visiting www.flexjobs.com/trends. For media inquiries, please contact Chelsea Gladden, Chelsea(at)flexjobs(dot)com or 1-866-991-9222 x 4.


About FlexJobs
FlexJobs is the leading online service for hand-screened and professional flexible, part-time, telecommuting, and freelance job listings. FlexJobs gives job-seekers an ad-free way to find legitimate jobs quickly, easily, and safely. A proud member of the Better Business Bureau, FlexJobs skilled research team provides quality job leads in over 50 career categories, ranging from entry-level to executive, freelance to full-time. FlexJobs is a green, carbon-balanced company which is leading the way to the future of work by promoting telecommuting and flexible jobs that allow people to enjoy work and life in environmentally sustainable ways.


To find out more about FlexJobs, visit www.FlexJobs.com.
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Protecting your company if you use telework

HUMAN RESOURCES

Protecting your company if you use telework

OCTOBER 8, 2011 @ 10:39AM | JULIE TAPPERO

The benefits and cost-savings of allowing employees to work from home have received much attention — it cuts down on commuting expenses for staff as well as overhead within your own office, and provides your employees with morale-boosting work-life flexibility. In my own company, we’ve allowed several employees to telecommute for a variety of reasons — physical disability, an ailing spouse who couldn’t be left alone, a new baby, a severe allergy to fragrances. In all of these instances, we were very pleased with the success of our work-from-home arrangements. But telecommuting also comes with risks — chief among them, security issues and liability issues, on top of the issues that naturally crop up when managing someone who isn’t physically in the same location as you.

One recent case, Sandberg v. JC Penny Co., in particular caught my attention. A woman who primarily worked out of her home as a custom decorator and saleswoman of bedding and window treatments claimed that when she went into her garage to retrieve some fabric samples, she tripped over her dog and fractured her wrist. Initially, a Workers’ Compensation Board in Oregon denied her claim for workers’ compensation benefits, but this ruling was reversed by an appeals court. She argued that because she was required by her employer to work out of her home, hazards within her home automatically qualified as work environment hazards. Now that her case has been sent back to the Workers’ Compensation Board, it appears she has a strong chance of winning.

Some of the benefits of allowing employees to telework lose their appeal when weighed against the fact that employers lack the control over employees’ environments and activities that they have when people work in-office. It is clear that risk management is an extremely important element of any successful telework set-up. Telecommuting truly is an excellent option for companies and their employees, but only if a business takes the proper steps to protect itself.

If possible, it’s best to only allow employees you know well and who have an established history at your company to work from home. After all, trust is a huge component of any telecommuting set-up. You must trust your employee to maintain a safe office environment, to complete tasks unsupervised, and to accurately report their hours. While there are obviously measures you can take to ensure that these things happen, you’ll protect yourself from potential fraud or other problems if you only offer this privilege to staff who’ve proven you can rely on them. Additionally, if you allow hourly workers to telecommute, make sure you have a program in place that they can log into while working to track all of their time, to prevent fraudulent overtime and hours claims.

It’s not uncommon for companies to offer a telework option only to long-term or high-performing employees. Keep in mind, though, that if this is the case, due to the Americans with Disabilities Act, you may have to provide this option to workers who do not meet the long-term/high-performing criteria, if they are disabled and request accommodation.

It is critically important that an employee’s home work space is located in a safe, clean, controlled environment. You should be directly involved in selecting the space where a telecommuting employee will work, and in setting up that area so it is as ergonomically correct and safe as your normal office space. It should be well-lit and ventilated, large enough to comfortably accommodate your employee and any equipment they will be using, and free of clutter and physical obstructions. It should have enough electrical outlets to safely power all of the equipment they need to work, and all wires and electrical cords must be kept secured and out of the way. Once the workspace has been set up, thoroughly document it with photos.

As with almost all employment-related issues, clear policies and guidelines are your best protection. You should have a detailed and very clear outline of your expectations for telecommuting employees, and guidelines that address any potential safety issues — all in writing. Employees who work from home should be required to sign these documents to indicate that they understand and will follow your safety and security requirements. This agreement should state that home workers will be covered by workers’ compensation laws only if they are injured during the course of performing their job duties. As an additional step, you should periodically reassess your telecommuting employees’ work spaces (and document your assessments, preferably with photos) to ensure that they continue to meet your safety requirements.

Some companies go so far as to make telecommuting employees sign an agreement that they will not allow children, family members and pets in their home workspace. Creating a policy of this type is a very good idea, as it further reduces risk of injury, as well as security risks — which we’ll address next.

Technological security risks are a major concern when you allow an employee to work outside of your normal office space. Protecting the privacy and integrity of company data and networks is a high priority when employees are working outside of the office.

For starters, you should always have a detailed acceptable use policy regarding the use of computers, company data and online media, whether or not you have employees who work from home. If you do have home workers, this becomes even more important. Your staff needs to sign this policy, and it is important to update it yearly, or whenever you implement new technology, or new ways of using technology.

You should provide telecommuting employees with company-issued equipment, rather than having them use their own computers or personal technology for work. Have an IT expert ensure that their network is properly secured, and their machine is protected by firewalls, antivirus software, failed log-on lockout settings, etc. If your company blocks employees from accessing certain sites from work, block those sites on your telecommuting employees’ work machines too. Additionally, telecommuting employees should not be set up as administrators on their work computers, to prevent them from installing non-work related programs or otherwise harming the machine. Instead, have your IT staff remotely handle updates or changes.

If you’re providing employees with laptops, you may also want your policy to prohibit the use of that equipment in unsecured environments, such as wireless networks available at public locations like coffee shops (unless that interferes with the work they need to perform).

According to data released by the Nemertes Research Group in 2009, as many as 71 percent of U.S. companies offer full-time or part-time telecommuting options to their employees. As the pressure of an uncertain and struggling economy continues to bear down on us for the foreseeable future, the flexibility and cost-savings offered by telecommuting will ensure it remains an appealing option for businesses to pursue. My own experiences with providing work-from-home arrangements in my company were all extremely positive. But part of the reason that was the case is that we made sure to implement all of the measures necessary to protect ourselves and ensure the safety of our employees and data. The chances are high that if you do the same, you’ll enjoy an equally positive experience!

(Editor’s Note: Julie Tappero is the President and owner of West Sound Workforce, a professional staffing and recruiting company based in Poulsbo and Gig Harbor. She can be reached at julie@westsoundworkforce.com. View her LinkedIn profile atwww.linkedin.com/in/jtappero. The recommendations and opinions provided are based on general human resource management fundamentals, practices and principles, and are not legal opinions, advice, or guaranteed outcomes. Consult with your legal counsel when addressing legal concerns related to human resource issues and legal contracts.)

MTA President meets with DEED

Brent J. Christensen, President and CEO of the Minnesota Telecom Alliance met with Minnesota DEED Commissioner Phillips this morning, September 21st.  They talked about the telework summit and asked them to look at adding a “Statewide Telework” location field to their jobforce website, which DEED agreed to look into.  They also talked about the white paper the Center for Rural Policy and Development is doing on the economic impact of telcos in MN and how the FCC is working on changes to USF/ICC that will significantly impact what and how we do business.  The meeting will be followed up in November with a meeting between DEED and the Minnesota Telecom Alliance Economic Development Committee to discuss mutual areas where we could promote economic development in rural Minnesota.

Broadband in Faribault County

The following is a video that highlights the use and benefit of broadband in Faribault County, Minnesota. It’s a nice display of broadband use and adoption in the area – focusing on the BEVCOMM as the provider.

It was created by Save Rural Broadband. Here is a description of the organization from their web site…

Save Rural Broadband was created by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, and the Western Telecommunications Alliance to educate Americans about Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposals that could profoundly affect rural America. Our goal is to show Congress and the Obama administration how the proposals the FCC released in February 2011 are detrimental to efforts to upgrade broadband Internet networks in many rural communities – and how it would result in loss of jobs and decreased economic development in regions of America that need them most. We are working to convince the FCC to instead move forward to adopt the landmark “consensus framework” that has been submitted by a unified group of small, mid-size, and large carriers. This framework is the product of many years of discussion, representing an important step forward by the telecommunications industry to reach tough compromises that will restore regulatory certainty.

Virtual Companies Keep Running Through Irene. Is That Good?

As Hurricane Irene breaks NYC rainfall records, attention seems to be turning to what its final cultural and economic impact may be. An interesting little lesson, which many of us who work from home will already know, is the role telecommuting can play in creating a more resilient, stable economy. In fact that is one of the reasons cited on the radio this morning for why markets seemed relatively buoyant, despite Irene shutting down much of NYC. Many folks were simply able to work from home.

But if you're working from home temporarily, and would like to make it permanent, how do you make that shift? And, on a wider note, should keeping our economic machine rolling through every storm even be a goal of ours? Snow days are kind of important too...

Virtual Organizations Keep Running

From telecommuting reducing emissions and saving money to 5 innovations that make working from home even greener, we've given telecommuting a lot of love over the years. And it's not surprising. Most TreeHugger contributors work from home at least some of the time, and while we don't get to play hooky on snow days, we do rest safe in the knowledge that we can avoid traffic jams or inclement weather hazards, and our well-oiled green machine keeps running despite what Mother Nature may throw at us.

Telecommuting Creates a more Resilient Economy

The fact is that while our age of hyper-mobility may have left us more vulnerable to inclement weather, we are also living in an age of virtual mobility. Those of us who work from home anyway may take it for granted, but today there will be thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of workers who can carry on as normal while never having to leave their houses. Take this report from a fellow Treehugger when I broached the subject at our virtual water cooler:

On the anecdotal side, we've got a full house here of people working from home, as downed trees have shut down trains running into Manhattan.

So while in days gone by we would have seen many days of lost work until travel was once again possible, many companies and organizations today find themselves reluctantly thrown into a virtual organizing world—and the chances are they will do just fine in it.

Forced Telecommuting as Teaching Moment?

This isn't just a powerful stabilizer for our economy—it has the potential to be a teaching moment for reducing our environmental impact too. So if you happen to be a regular commuter forced to work from home for the day, why not start thinking about how you can make it a regular occurrence? It may be that you yourself were nervous to take the plunge, or your boss was reluctant to let workers telecommute. Whatever the barriers were, look on today as a test day—pay attention to how well you work from home, and draw attention to that fact when you get back into the office. And then think about how much better it would work if you had systems already set up to do so.

But Forced Downtime is Important Too

There is, of course, a word of caution to be had too. Because economic productivity is not everything. About a year back a realtor friend/client of mine sent me an email about snow days. In response to a "what you can do to remain productive on a snow day" email that was circulating realtor listserves, my buddy and his colleagues had compiled a list of "what you can do to get maximum enjoyment from your snow day." From day drinking to sledding to building snowmen, the list was as fun as it was important. Just as workations risk derailing our already limited downtime, losing our snow days and hurricane days to telecommuting means losing an occasional, temporary and in some ways healthy forced pause on our juggernaut of "productivity".

I suspect the secret lies in embracing the best of the virtual economy—but also adapting our working patterns to fit the modern environment. In a world where we can be reached by our bosses 24/7, year-round, it becomes increasingly important to ask whether we should be so accessible. By all means let's learn how temporary telecommuting can free us up from the hideous daily commute, and make our companies and organizations better able to cope with disruption. But let's not forget that we all need to play more too. After all, slow business is good business.

The next workplace: Tips, tricks and testament for telecommuting

Sometimes we stumble onto ideas. Last week, as I was trying to come up with an idea for what I’d write about this week, I stumbled onto the fact that I was doing a pretty decent amount of traveling in the next 30 days, and someone asked me how I was going to continue working while I did. That gave me the idea that there were surely some interesting stories about people who had given up on the idea of a traditional office, and in doing so had come up with some unique insights about that fact.

Fortunately, I wasn’t disappointed when I went searching for the people or the stories.

To start, let’s talk about Christian Faller. He’s a freelance business development guy, for lack of a better term. Christian and I had been trying to get together via Skype for a chat, but my schedule kept preventing that. Finally though we were able to talk for a bit and Faller had some interesting things to say about his recent move to Singapore and what having the globe as his office has provided him.

Faller frequents CouchSurfing and has done a significant amount of travel both through and unguided by the site. I asked Faller where his favorite “office” was so far and surprisingly the German native stated that he liked living in Canada and the US the best so far. That “so far” list? In the past 2 years, he’s worked from over 20 countries.

Whether it’s the matter that Faller “really [doesn’t] know whether [he] wants to do this forever” or if it’s that “feeling that [he] might miss out on something”, he continues to travel as much as he can and he works from everywhere.

But where is the business advantage? In Faller’s case, he states that his travel has allowed him to pitch to companies that his biggest asset is the ability to have cross-cultural thinking. With the global, no-walls economy that we have today, it’s an invaluable asset.

The whole idea has hit close to home for us here at TNW, as well. Zee, our esteemed Editor-In-Chief, has plans to move to leave his London flat for Dubai in the very near future. Whether you understand his reasons or not, the interesting thing is that his ability to perform the scope of his job absolutely won’t change because of the move.

We’ve talked at length before about the ways in which technology has enabled us to work from near anywhere. The question then rises as to whether or not it’s the right solution for more businesses. It should be a telling fact, however, that many job search websites have included the filter option of “Telecommute” to their offerings, as demand for “work from anywhere” jobs continues to rise.

There are a number of factors that come into play when you’re considering the idea of a telecommuting employee. Without going into too much detail on each of them, the basic idea is that you need to find the right person to do the right job and provide them with the right equipment. While this isn’t different from an ideal in-office situation, the added freedom for the worker can adversely affect someone who isn’t fitting that “right/right/right” scenario.

I spoke at length to a business coach who works with companies that are transitioning toward a virtual office setting, and here are some points that I was given for both sides of the employer/employee equation.

For Businesses

Set the criteria — Obviously you will likely have some positions that require the work to be done from your company’s office. For those positions that you are considering a telecommuting option, make sure to clearly set the criteria that is expected in order to take them. From eligibility of employees to the performance expectations, all of these should be plainly laid out before the first work day happens.

Tracking time — It’s imperative that you’re fully paying your employee in the same way that you would if they were working in your office. If your standard employees have paid lunches or breaks, so too should your ones working from Starbucks. The same is true for those employees when computer problems or power outages happen. If you’d have to pay them if they were working in the office, you have to pay them when they’re not.

Prepare to pay — While it might seem to be a great idea to take your 5-year employee to a home office setting, you have to consider the resources that are available to them. Do they have the right computer to do the job? What about a phone system? Is their home’s dial-up connection sufficient for doing the work that needs to be done? If not, be ready to dish out those expenses from company funds in order to get the most out of the work-at-home setup.

Be flexible — It might seem second nature to many of us, but established companies often times have difficulty transitioning to a flex time system of work. If your employee’s job is not dependent upon their ability to pull information from other people then allow them to work their scheduled 8 hours at any point during the day. So long as the quality of the work is not affected, keep that schedule open.

Keep talking — Even if an employee is on a flex time schedule, it’s imperative that an open line of communication is maintained. Whether that is accomplished by mandatory office time or pre-scheduled meetings, make sure to stay in touch just as you would with an in-office employee.

For Workers

Be a professional— We’ve heard lots of tips about how you should still wake up, shower and get dressed for a day at a home office. Beyond that, though, there’s a level of professionalism expected from you that even office workers might not have. Showing up to a Skype meeting in your bathrobe? Bad idea. Treat your home office as you would any other professional environment.

Stay in place — Oh sure, the door is open for you to take on any number of jobs while you’re working from home. The fact is though that an established record of long-term business relationships will look good to future employers, freelance or otherwise.

Get social — It might seem small, but it can lead to larger problems. The practice of working remotely can be a lonely one. That office camaraderie is likely more important than any of us give it credit for. As such, make sure that you don’t go hermit-style. Make a concerted effort to go to a local office occasionally, if possible. At the very least, get out of the house and work from a coffee shop or bookstore for a day. Having people around you can be a very good thing.

Be mobile — Faller brings up some great points in my talk with him about traveling with a bare minimum of things to keep him productive. You should work to find the ways that you can minimize your required equipment so that you can still be mobile when it’s necessary. From plumbers to noisy family members, a lot can happen in your house. If all you need is a laptop and a mobile phone, you can work from far more places.

Get balanced — We’ve talked about this before during our week on productivity, but it bears repeating: Balance your work and your life. For most of us, it’s hard to quit at 5pm when our office is in our living room. Find a workspace that isn’t your living space, and leave it there when it’s time to quit for the day. Your family…and your sanity…will thank you.

Maybe it’s not the right idea for every job or every person, but telecommuting is increasingly popular. If you’re going to do it, or you’re going to offer it, do your homework and you’ll see the payoff. After all, wouldn’t we all like to visit 20 countries while still doing our job every day?

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About the Author

Brad is a music and tech junkie who calls Nashville home. While he writes across many channels on The Next Web, he has a particular interest in startups located in the Southern US. Find him on Twitter @BradMcCarty.

A tally of telecommuting: Tons of pollutants avoided

By SANDY BAUERS

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Just stay home.

That might be a good mantra for those who want to see a major drop in greenhouse gas emissions.

In a new study about working from home - also called telecommuting, or telework - a Widener University professor and a colleague have determined that greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by about 588 tons over the next 10 years, if just another 10 percent of the workforce did it.

Key to that is developing widespread access to broadband services, said Joseph P. Fuhr, an economics professor at Widener, and Stephen Pociask, president of the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit research organization in Washington, D.C.

In a paper published in the journal, Low Carbon Economy, they said that about half of U.S. homes lack a high-speed connection to the internet. But otherwise, the potential for telecommuting is high.

U.S. government workers are a case in point. According to the federal Office of Personnel Management, 41 percent of federal workers are eligible for telecommuting. Oddly enough, only about 19 percent do.

Fuhr and Pociask outlined the many benefits - a reduction in rush-hour traffic (and a reprieve from costly road projects); less oil use and perhaps fewer cars needed overall; a way to expand employment opportunities for the handicapped and the elderly. There's the potential for fewer auto accidents and, as a result, lives saved.

There's more. "Telecommuters save money by eating out less, decreasing daycare needs and spending less on work wardrobes and dry cleaning," the authors noted.

Firms "will need less equipment, office space, parking spaces ..." Telecommuting could lead to what they call "homeshoring," as opposed to "offshoring" jobs overseas.

Bosses always worry about productivity, but additional studies have shown an increase in worker output, coupled with higher morale.

The researchers say more studies are needed, but their breakdown of the environmental benefits in a single year of additional telecommuting show 45 tons of greenhouse gas emissions saved from less driving, 4.8 tons saved from the effects of congestion, 28.1 tons saved from office space not built and 56.8 tons saved from energy not used in office spaces.

They conclude: "Encouraging the development of technology such as broadband services, which will facilitate the use of more telecommuting, could become one of the most important economic public policy initiatives because it helps the environment while augmenting economic growth."

Visit Sandy Bauers' blog at http://go.philly.com/greenspace.

Telecommuting levels the field for some rural Minnesotans

Telecommuting levels the field for some rural Minnesotans

by Jennifer Vogel, Minnesota Public Radio

March 24, 2011





St. Paul, Minn. — Rose Buer commutes to her job as a software engineer in Bloomington every morning.



But she doesn't drive from Minneapolis or St. Paul or another suburb. She makes the short trek from her 10-acre farm to a small office in Dawson, next to a hair salon and the Dawson Sentinel, the newspaper that serves the town of 1,300 people in western Minnesota.



From there, thanks to a DSL Internet connection, she telecommutes to her job at PPT Vision, a company that designs electronic monitoring systems for assembly lines.



Buer and her husband, Brett, moved to their country 1912 foursquare house from the Twin Cities seven years ago. Both were raised in rural Minnesota and longed to return. They've planted a garden and are planning a fruit orchard. "It's the best of both worlds," says Buer, who rents her Dawson office for $100 per month. "From 8 to 4, my head is in technical stuff. I can use my abilities as an engineer. After hours, I have the country farm life."



At first, Buer's employer was skeptical; it cut Buer's hours to three days per week. But after two months, she was back to full time, with full benefits and full city salary.



"I don't know where else I'd have an engineering job out here," Buer says. If she chose to live on the farm but didn't have telecommuting as an option, "I don't know if I'd be working at a dime store or what."



All over Minnesota — from Cook County in the northeast to Sibley County in the south — public and private entities are contemplating or building high-speed Internet networks.



Rural communities, dying for success stories like Buer's, are hoping that better connectivity will make it feasible for more people to live and work farther from the city. They hope it'll stave off a pattern of out-migration that's been draining young people from their towns and farms for a century.



Eighteen state broadband projects have received more than $228 million in federal stimulus dollars. Other communities are pushing ahead on their own in an effort to make Internet access faster and more universal than the private marketplace has so far. For example, Buer at first considered working her job from the farm, but a sluggish connection made that impossible.



"This is the only thing that's going to help stem the decline in rural areas," says Mark Erickson, the city administrator in Winthrop who is championing a publicly-owned, non-stimulus-funded broadband project in Sibley County. He says Sibley is ripe for telecommuting because it's only an hour and a half from the Twin Cities. "Broadband has the ability to grow this state," he says.



It's hard to measure the extent to which better Internet service will change the rural economic landscape. Certainly there's more at stake than telecommuting — farms and other businesses can use the web to access markets; faster connections can improve rural healthcare through telemedicine and education through interactive video classes.



But communities have reason to think broadband could level the playing field, especially with the growing number of workers not tethered to a desk. A recent study by ConnectMinnesota and the Minnesota Broadband Task Force found that 37 percent of Minnesotans work from home at least occasionally; twenty percent telework on a regular basis. What's more, the report says, "Three out of ten Minnesota adults who are not currently in the workforce say they would work if empowered to do so through teleworking. This includes 17% of retirees, nearly three out of five unemployed adults, and almost one-third of homemakers."



A 2009 report by Forrester Research predicts those numbers will grow: "Fueled by broadband adoption, better collaboration tools, and growing management experience," by 2016, 43 percent of American workers will work from home at least one day per week.



It's unclear what portion of those telecommuters will pick up stakes and move to the country. Ben Winchester, a University of Minnesota sociologist who studies rural areas, thinks good Internet service isn't so much a pull as its lack is a deterrent. "Broadband is not necessarily a draw," says Winchester. Rather, he says, "If it doesn't exist, it's a push factor. It pushes people away."



At least for some, however, broadband and all its attending technologies — video conferencing, virtual private networks (VPNs), instant messaging — is making rural life possible.





Mike Bubany works as a financial analyst from his 21-acre property in Spring Valley, south of the Twin Cities, for David Drown Associates in Minneapolis. "The commute is hellacious," says Bubany. "I have to walk down the stairs and kick the toys out of the way. I put on the coffee." He adds, "I am wearing a sweatshirt and jeans right now and not because it's casual Friday." He goes to the Minneapolis office just a few times a year.



Tom Wirt and Betsy Price run Clay Coyote, a successful pottery shop outside Hutchinson, west of the Twin Cities, featuring hand-glazed tagines and other cookware. The couple moved from the Chicago area, where Tom worked in marketing for Bakers Square, to their 55-acre farm 16 years ago. Since then, they have honed their pottery skills.



Their big break came thanks to the Internet. "An editor at Food & Wine magazine had ordered one of our colanders online," recalls Wirt. That editor recommended Clay Coyote to Paula Wolfert, a well-known cookbook author. "She was writing a book about cooking in southwest France and we made a cassole for her." From there, Wirt and Price became consultants on Wolfert's book about Mediterranean clay pot cooking.



"It blew the top off our business," says Wirt. He and his wife have become stars of the foodie world, racking up their best sales ever last year. More than half their orders came through Coyote's website; they shipped pots to Israel, Germany, Australia and England. "Without high-speed Internet, none of this would exist," says Wirt. "It's absolutely critical. Without it, we would be potters doing art shows."





In 2009, the state Department of Transportation and the U of M launched a campaign called eWorkPlace to encourage employers to allow more staff to work remotely. The idea was that fewer commuters would mean less highway congestion during rush hours. Since its debut, the program has found that telecommuting leads to increased productivity, fewer sick days and decreased overhead costs.



One of the companies that participated in the eWorkPlace project is MMIC, an Edina-based provider of medical IT services and liability insurance. MMIC has been pushing its employees to work from home since 2009, according to Steven DuBois, a senior risk management consultant. He says 40 percent of the company's workforce telecommutes at least one day a week — and some telecommute full time — saving over $1 million in office rent alone.



"We closed an office in Plymouth," he says. "We moved to a smaller office facility." MMIC offers what are known as "hotel cubes" to its workers when they're in the city, which may be as infrequently as twice a month.



DuBois himself telecommutes full time from Appleton, Wisconsin, thanks to a cable Internet connection. "One of the requirements," he says, "is that employees have access to broadband or cable. We do have one person who is working on a satellite hookup," he says. "But it's inconsistent. It's not as reliable as a hard connection at this point. I'm not aware that any of our folks have a wireless system where they are."



MMIC represents the future, according to Adeel Lari, a research fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs who directs the eWorkPlace program. He believes that more and more workers — no longer bound to the city for jobs — will move to the country.



"Most of the jobs in the United States are becoming knowledge-based," he says. "The percentage will go up and up. Can you imagine the implication for where people live?"



Those underwater on their mortgages may be stuck in place for the short term, Lari says, but eventually, "I think the suburbs and exurbs will have a serious problem. People who want to move out of the city can move way out." Instead of stopping in, say, Eden Prairie, they may go all the way to Grand Marais. "At the present time, they may be tethered to the center city, but that will break away."



There used to be a stigma to working from home, Lari adds. "I think that stigma is lifting. Everything is done electronically. People ask for your email address, not your physical address anymore. I believe we are at the tipping point," he says. "We're on the cusp."

Minnesota House File No. 1141 Telework Bill

H.F. No. 1141, as introduced - 87th Legislative Session (2011-2012) Posted on Mar 16, 2011


1.1A bill for an act


1.2relating to taxation; creating a teleworking credit; providing a sales tax


1.3exemption for telework expenses;amending Minnesota Statutes 2010, section


1.4297A.67, by adding a subdivision; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota


1.5Statutes, chapter 290.


1.6BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:






1.7 Section 1. [290.0693] TELEWORKING CREDIT.


1.8 Subdivision 1. Definitions. (a) The terms in this section have the meanings given


1.9them.


1.10(b) "Eligible telework expenses" means expenses incurred during the calendar year


1.11pursuant to a telework agreement, up to a limit of $1,200 for each participating employee,


1.12to enable a participating employee to begin to telework. Eligible expenses:


1.13(1) include, but are not limited to, expenses paid or incurred to purchase computers;


1.14computer-related hardware and software; modems; data processing equipment;


1.15telecommunications equipment; high-speed Internet connectivity equipment; computer


1.16security software and devices; and all related delivery, installation, and maintenance fees;


1.17(2) do not include:


1.18(i) replacement costs for computers, computer-related hardware and software,


1.19modems, data processing equipment, telecommunications equipment, or computer


1.20security software and devices at the principal place of business when that equipment is


1.21relocated to the telework site; and


1.22(ii) expenses for which a credit or subtraction is claimed under any other provision


1.23of this chapter;


1.24(3) may be incurred only once per employee; and


2.1(4) may be incurred directly by the employer on behalf of the participating employee


2.2or directly by the participating employee and subsequently reimbursed by the employer.


2.3(c) "Employer" means any employer subject to tax under this chapter.


2.4(d) "Participating employee" means an employee who has entered into a telework


2.5agreement with the employee's employer on or after July 1, 2011. Participating employee


2.6does not include an individual who is self-employed or an individual who ordinarily


2.7spends a majority of the workday at a location other than the employer's principal place of


2.8business.


2.9(e) "Telework" means to perform normal and regular work functions on a workday


2.10that ordinarily would be performed at the employer's principal place of business at a


2.11different location, thereby eliminating or substantially reducing the physical commute


2.12to and from that employer's principal place of business. Telework shall not include


2.13home-based businesses, extensions of the workday, or work performed on a weekend


2.14or holiday.


2.15(f) "Telework agreement" means an agreement signed by the employer and the


2.16participating employee, on or after July 1, 2011, that defines the terms of a telework


2.17arrangement, including the number of days per year the participating employee will


2.18telework in order to qualify for the credit as provided in subdivision 2, and any restrictions


2.19on the place from which the participating employee will telework.


2.20(g) "Telework assessment" means an optional assessment leading to the development


2.21of policies and procedures necessary to implement a formal telework program that would


2.22qualify the employer for the credit provided in subdivision 2, including but not limited


2.23to a workforce profile; a telework program business case and plan; a detailed accounting


2.24of the purpose, goals, and operating procedures of the telework program; methodologies


2.25for measuring telework program activities and success; and a deployment schedule for


2.26increasing telework activity.


2.27 Subd. 2. Credit allowed. An employer is allowed a tax credit against the tax


2.28imposed by this chapter for a percentage of eligible telework expenses incurred. The


2.29amount of the credit is calculated as follows:


2.30(1) 100 percent of the eligible telework expenses incurred under a telework


2.31agreement requiring the participating employee to telework at least 15 days per month;


2.32(2) 75 percent of the eligible telework expenses incurred under a telework agreement


2.33requiring the participating employee to telework at least ten days per month; or


2.34(3) 25 percent of the eligible telework expenses incurred under a telework agreement


2.35requiring the participating employee to telework at least five days per month.


3.1 Subd. 3. Telework assessment credit. (a) In addition to the credit provided by


3.2subdivision 2, an employer conducting a telework assessment on or after July 1, 2011, is


3.3allowed a credit in the calendar year of implementation of the employer's formal telework


3.4program against the tax imposed by this chapter for 100 percent of the cost of preparing


3.5the assessment, up to a maximum credit of $20,000 per employer. The credit provided


3.6by this subdivision is intended to include program planning expenses, including direct


3.7program development and training costs, raw labor costs, and professional consulting fees.


3.8The credit does not include expenses for which a credit or subtraction is claimed under


3.9any other provision of this chapter. The credit is allowed only once per employer.


3.10(b) All telework assessments eligible for a tax credit under this subdivision shall


3.11meet standards for eligibility adopted by the commissioner.


3.12 Subd. 4. Limitations. The credit for any taxable year must not exceed the


3.13employer's liability for tax. Any unused tax credit may not be carried forward to apply to


3.14the employer's succeeding years' tax liability. The tax credit may not be used against the


3.15employer's prior years' tax liability.


3.16 Subd. 5. Application. (a) An employer seeking to claim a credit provided for


3.17under subdivisions 2 and 3 must submit an application to the commissioner for tentative


3.18approval of the credit between September 1 and October 31 of the year preceding the


3.19calendar year for which the credit is to be earned. The commissioner shall adopt the


3.20rules and forms on which the application is to be submitted. Amounts specified on the


3.21application must not be changed by the employer after the application is approved by the


3.22commissioner. Applications must certify that the employer would not have incurred the


3.23eligible telework expenses but for the availability of the credit. The commissioner shall


3.24review the application and tentatively approve the application upon determining that


3.25it meets the requirements of this section.


3.26(b) The total amount of both credits approved by the commissioner under this section


3.27must not exceed $....... in any calendar year.


3.28(c) The commissioner shall notify each employer of the credits tentatively approved


3.29and allocated to the employer by December 31 of the year in which the application


3.30was submitted. Once the credit application is approved and the amount approved is


3.31communicated to the applicant, the employer may make purchases approved for the credit


3.32at any time during the calendar year following the approval of the application. The


3.33employer may then apply the amount of the approved credit to its liability for the tax


3.34year or years for which the approved application applies. If the employer has a tax year


3.35other than a calendar year and the calendar year expenses are incurred in more than one


4.1taxable year, the credit shall be applied to each taxable year based on when the expenses


4.2were incurred.


4.3 Subd. 6. Public report. The commissioner shall make available a public report


4.4disclosing the employer names claiming the credit under this section and the amounts


4.5of the credits.


4.6EFFECTIVE DATE.This section is effective for taxable years beginning after


4.7December 31, 2011.






4.8 Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2010, section 297A.67, is amended by adding a subdivision


4.9to read:


4.10 Subd. 33. Telework expenses. Telework expenses, as defined in section 290.0693,


4.11subdivision 1, paragraph (b), clause (1), are exempt.


4.12EFFECTIVE DATE.This section is effective for sales and purchases made after


4.13June 30, 2011.

The Slow, But Promising, Rise of Telecommuting

Don Kirkpatrick’s Contribution to Learning & Development ..The Slow, But Promising, Rise of Telecommuting


by Marci Paino on March 4, 2011 •

The Telework Research Center reports that only 2 percent of the U.S. workforce — 2.8 million people — identifies home as their primary location of work. Meanwhile, a much greater number — 17.2 billion people — work from home at least one day a week. Moreover, 40 percent of U.S. workers indicate that they can do their job from home, which is a trend supported by the growth of informational jobs over industrial jobs.

There have been many articles written about telecommuting benefits, challenges and strategies for the employer and employee. Some of these articles contain misperceptions about telecommuting, including one by the Vancouver Sun that reports Working from home raises productivity, once crumbs are cleared from keyboards: Lack of chit-chat from adjoining cubicles reduces the chances of distraction.

First, the article explores employers’ fears of telecommuting, including:

•Lost control (more difficult to supervise).

•Lack of communication.

•Breech in security and confidentiality.

•Decrease in team morale and loyalty to the company.

None of these fears can be questioned. But then, the article discusses ways to convince your boss to allow telecommuting in spite of these fears. In summary, the benefits discussed include:

•Increased flexibility in work hours to accommodate personal needs.

•Increased productivity.

At initial glance, these benefits seem plausible. However, a couple of the supporting points made are not entirely accurate.



Not only do you seem healthier working from home, taking fewer sick days, but, inexplicably, there are fewer problems with that other office malaise: technology.



In fact, your office-issued equipment seems to work better when it’s plugged into your personal grid, maybe because you are finally forced to troubleshoot or maybe because fewer wires are crossed on a network of one.

Some companies may have minor bandwidth issues with all their employees in office accessing the Internet at one time. However, the speed offered in many residential areas does not compare to those offered by a large business network. Technology, specifically the Internet, could actually become a challenge for a telecommuter.

Another inaccurate point made:

There are no distractions when you work from home. Except maybe the letter carrier and the kid collecting for soccer camp. No chit-chat with cubicle neighbours, and no dedicated coffee breaks or lunch hours, either, certainly not those dictated by union contract or years of routine.

There are different types of distractions that occur when you work from home. It might not be the gossiping neighbor, but could be household chores, a child, a sick spouse, roommates, the television or many other similar personal distractions. These distractions and the need to learn how to be self-motivated can also become a challenge to a telecommuter.

Although this spotlights some potential challenges for the telecommuter, there are benefits to the employer and organization that are not completely covered in the article, including:

•Decreased expenses associated with real estate costs and other overhead.

•Increased incentive used to recruit top talent.

Telecommuting is without a doubt on the rise and continuing to gain in popularity. Company leaders will need to continue to consider this as an option as the cost of living and travel increases. Telecommuting can work if the company goes in prepared. When the time comes to implement telecommuting options, companies should consider how to train managers on how to lead virtual teams and employees on how to work to create structure that promotes maximum productivity and work-life balance.

Telework-Emerging Opportunities for Employers and Employees in the Marketplace

SAVE THE DATE: March 16


Telework-Emerging Opportunities for Employers and Employees in the Marketplace



Date: March 16, 2011

Time: 9 am – 4 pm

Location: Bigwood Event Center Fergus Falls, Minnesota



The Telework Summit will call attention to the opportunities and benefits in teleworking for employers and employees. The summit will feature speakers from well know regional firms who are using telework within their companies to lower costs and increase productivity. The summit will highlight the Fergus Falls Teleworking infrastructure within our city and the region as well as share experiences from employees who have successfully teleworked for many years. The Summit will also include presentations from leading virtual personnel companies.



To register, email Mary Robertson at the FFEIC at: mary.robertson@ci.fergus-falls.mn.us

Cost for the program including lunch is $15.00. ATTENDANCE IS LIMITED!

To register and pay online, go to Telework Summit. Or http://www.ffeic.org/ and follow the link on the homepage.



Who Should Attend?

- Human Relations Managers

- Company CEO and CFO's

- Educational and Government

- City and County Officials

- Employment Agencies

- Interested Businesses

- Planners

- IT Staff

- Employee Program Managers



Please share the attachment with others who may be interested.



Questions? Contact Ann Higgins at 651-281-1257 or at ahiggins@lmc.org



Heather Cederholm
Member Outreach Coordinator

Intergovernmental Relations Department

Tel: (651) 281-1256
Fax: (651) 215-4113

hcederholm@lmc.org
www.lmc.org

League of Minnesota Cities

145 University Ave. West
St. Paul, MN 55103



Connecting & Innovating since 1913



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"Work from home" fantasy: the reality that works

If you have the drive and discipline to work successfully from home, you have more opportunities to do so than ever before, even in today's employment climate. More and more employers are providing telework opportunities as a matter of enlightened self-interest. Telework jobs expand organizations' talent pools while maximizing limited overhead resources and improving employee satisfaction, as well as reducing traffic congestion and carbon emissions.


According to Commuter Connections' 2010 State of the Commute Survey, a quarter of regional commuters now telework at least occasionally. This is more than twice the percentage who worked from home in 2001. More than half of area workers now say their employer has either a formal or informal telework option.

So how do you find these coveted telework jobs? The federal government is a good place to start. "All federal agencies have telework programs," Cindy Auten, general manager of Telework Exchange, a non-profit that promotes successful telework practices, explained. "For recruitment purposes, most agencies will tag their telework-friendly jobs, so just go to usajobs.gov and type in 'telework' or 'telecommute,'" she recommended.

Auten named the Patent and Trademark Office, the Defense Information Agency and the General Services Administration as the agencies with the most robust telework programs. She reported that Discovery Communications, Booz Allen Hamilton and Marriott International have some of the area's top private sector telecommuting programs. Be aware that employers will often require on-site work before transitioning employees to work-from-home situations.

Ellen Duncan, vice president of human resources for a Gaithersburg biotech firm, spent many years recruiting employees for federal jobs, government contractors and other private sector firms, including many teleworkers. "Look at any entity that needs to hire a lot of people quickly. They often don't have the office space and infrastructure to accommodate on-site staff," she suggested. To do this, try following the federal money trail. You can visit the Federal Procurement Data System--Next Generation at fpds.gov to research recently awarded contracts.

But it is not only the large employers for whom teleworkers make sense. Duncan noted that entrepreneurs and home-based businesses often prefer home-based workers as well. "The owner's office is often wherever their phone and laptop is, so they just need you to be available by phone and internet," she observed. Thus, a growing field these days is that of "virtual assistant," a job Duncan recommended "if you're particularly organized and tolerant."

Companies in which the workload increases significantly on a cyclical basis often use teleworkers because the employers do not want to invest in office space they only need some of the time, Duncan added. Examples include companies with end-of-pay-period processing deadlines and monthly inventory checks.

Duncan offered these tips on proposing telework in your current job or a prospective job: "The successful plan starts with an idea that is well thought out and with a variety of contingencies addressed. Suggest a test period in which the employer and employee both have the right to say 'no' if it's not working out." Be sure to present your plan as one that benefits the company rather than one based on personal considerations.

Auten and Duncan both cautioned job seekers to beware of job scams that target people who want to work from home. Legitimate employers never charge money to hire you or get you started.

This special advertising section was written by Laura K. Nickle and Suzanne Gunther of Communi-k, Inc., in conjunction with The Washington Post Custom Content Department. The production of this supplement did not involve The Washington Post news or editorial staff.

Bob Rosner: Workplace 911

It’s challenging enough to manage people that you spend eight hours a day with. Getting the most out of people that you barely ever see? A herculean task. But there are tricks of the trade to ensure that everyone on your team is contributing wherever they spend the bulk of their working hours. Which reminds me of a focus group that was done at one of the largest Seattle employers a few years back. The company was very interested in learning why it had such a difficult time keeping younger engineers. One exchange told the company everything they needed to know, when one employee was asked about his boss and replied, “My boss couldn’t pick me out of a police lineup.”


Bosses must connect with all employees to help them reach their full potential. Sure it takes some time and effort, but to get the kind of results you need, it’s required. I’ve included three Dos and one Don’t to turn telecommuters into tele-producers below. For more, check out Harvard Business School Press’s book “Teams that Click” (2004).

Do communicate, communicate, communicate. Yep, if the rule in retail is “location, location, location,” then the rule in telecommuting is all about communication. Text, IM, e-mail, face-to-face, webcasting, Skype, Twitter, whatever. Some organizations have even created an online whiteboard where people can brainstorm. What comes naturally in many workplaces, conversations in the elevator, over coffee or following a meeting doesn’t don’t tend to happen with telecommuters. So you’ve got to go out of your way to maintain a dialogue with them.

Do keep people connected. Just because people aren’t onsite, doesn’t mean that you can’t look for opportunities to bring them together. Training sessions, trade shows and industry conferences can all be places where you can create opportunities for people to bond and brainstorm with each other. But don’t overlook nonwork connections like recreational sports, parties, and picnics and other chances to create a feeling of camaraderie.

Do create simple ways to monitor performance. Sales is famous for the funnel, a series of key steps involves in selling that allow everyone to know exactly where in the sales process a particular customer is. We need to create a variety of ways to monitor employee performance along these same lines. However, there is a huge irony here. Most employees who aren’t telecommuters could use these same tools to monitor performance. Develop these tools for your telecommuters, but share them with all the employees that you can also see on a daily basis.

Don’t take them for granted. Throughout most of my career most of my bosses have left me alone. I’m very independent and self-motivated. So my bosses have tended to put their energy into employees who required more handholding. But this is a mistake. You need to dedicate time to each of your people on a regular, read weekly, basis.