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2012年7月25日 星期三

More Employers Embracing the Concept of Telecommuting


Just a few short years ago, telecommuting was a rare benefit for a select few. Employers were reluctant to give up the belief that employees needed watching, and that working from home really meant a day of watching soap operas, devouring chocolates, and catching up on the laundry. The traditional 9-to-5 in the office was the accepted standard for assuring that employees were where they were supposed to be and doing what they were supposed to do. For most, proof of productivity was measured by hours in the office, rather than by results.

However, with the help of laptops, PDAs, and high-speed internet, the practice of measuring productivity with time seems to be taking a few hits. More and more employers have begun to realize the benefits of telecommuting: lower overhead, less infrastructure, more productive employees, and greater retention. Some who already had programs in place for a few are expanding the programs they have to include more employees. Large employers such as the federal government are setting new standards for telecommuting by embracing the concept rather than rejecting it. There's even a new term for it now that covers not just those working from home, but those working on the road, or from satellite or client offices -- "telework."

The government leads the way

Telework is viewed favorably enough that the federal government, through its Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the General Services Administration (GSA), conducts an annual survey of its own agencies to ensure that telework opportunities are offered to employees as appropriate, and that the number of employees allowed to telework continues to rise. Telework Centers are maintained as satellite office space for teleworkers, and there are extensive policies governing the use of telework as a work option. Both agencies joined together to create a joint website dedicated to their telework programs. The willingness of the OPM and the GSA to accept and utilize teleworking seems to be successful, too - the number of federal employees allowed to telework at least part time has increased by nearly 40 percent since the surveys began in 2001.

The federal government is often the forerunner in adopting new insights on the American workforce, and with the Fed setting the pace for making telework an acceptable means of conducting business, it's logical to conclude that the American workplace as a whole may adopt the same outlook. For some industries, it could mean a whole new definition of what it means to "go to work."

Telework isn't for everyone

As appealing as it may sound, however, there are those who find telework to be less than they had hoped for. Interestingly enough, this dissatisfaction isn't coming from the employers, but from employees who find themselves lonely and feeling disconnected from the office culture. Granted, it's not a majority, but for some, telework brings a sense of feeling "left out," perhaps to the extent of missing opportunities for advancement, or to influence the opinions of others with a viable presence in the office. For a few, they just miss the structure of an office and find working at home to be more distracting than inspiring. Some employers willingly welcome these folks back into the fold, while others address this by providing resources, support, and training to their telework forces that help them adapt to working from home, enable them to make better use of technology, and learn how to interact effectively and productively in an electronic environment.

The changing workplace

Today, there are more than 12 million Americans who telework full-time, and another 10 million who telework part-time. However, given the diverse nature of the workplace, telework won't be an option for many types of businesses but certainly, it's becoming a much more viable option for jobs that entail computer work, thinking, or perhaps working with numbers. You won't see manufacturers sending their product assemblers home to put things together, but you may see their accountants working at home a few days a month...or a week. Telework isn't such a foreign concept anymore. It may have once been thought of as an ineffective approach to managing work/life balance, but modern workplaces now know that happy, less-stressed employees means employees that stay longer and get more done -- and cost them less in the long run.




Michael Fleischner is the Managing Director of ResumeEdge.com, one of the nations leading resume writing service providers, offering professional resume writing, editing, and guidance.

For additional resume writing resources, including free sample resumes, visit http://www.resumeedge.com today!





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2012年4月30日 星期一

Presenting the Telecommuting Concept to Your Onsite Employer


You might have a current job that you love, but you've been hoping to find a position like it that you could perform while working in your home office.

Sometimes finding the telecommuting position is as close as the job you're already working. It's a matter of convincing your current employer that the job could be done from your home.

Prepare a presentation and set up a time with the person that would make that decision to explain how the telecommuting process works and why it would be beneficial to the company you're working for.

The most successful presentations are ones that contain the following:

A lot of research

The employer will need to know more than just a few statistics. Tell them how much money they could save and other ways they could benefit.

Start Small

Employers may not be too open to making the whole job a telecommuting position. They might be more willing to allow some parts of the job to be done at home. Focus on some of the parts instead of the whole job. Down the line, after you've proven yourself, they might be willing to look into making it a complete telecommuting position.

Come with a schedule

It's much easier for the employer to see how this idea would work if you come with a proposed schedule. You could tell them that on Mondays and Wednesdays you would come into the office and perform whatever tasks. On the rest of the days, you would do xyz projects from home. Let them know it's a proposed schedule that could be changed, but it's used as an example to give them a clearer picture.

Here's what successful presentations Don't contain:

All about you

While you can tell them that you would perform better by working at home, don't make the whole presentation about you. They will not be interested in knowing that you want to be with your children, need to have more errand running time or that you're tired of paying for the gas. They would want to know what they get out of the situation.

Do-it-or Else Attitude

The presentation is meant to show the employer the benefits of you performing your job from home. You're only proposing the idea to them and trying to sell them on it. It is not a means to say that you'll quit if they don't do what you want. The do-it-or else attitude will only get you to the door with no more job to come to.

Not coming prepared

Your presentation will provoke a lot of questions from your employers. If you've done your research ahead of time, you will have some convincing answers to the questions they throw at you. By not coming prepared, you won't be able to answer many of their questions or give them feasible solutions to their proposed problems. More than likely they would see your presentation as a complete waste of time and deny your request for telecommuting.

Some employers have been sold on the idea of making current onsite jobs into telecommuting ones, but it takes a lot of hard work and thought on your part to make it happen.

Go all out and prepare for the presentation as much as possible. Even if you don't sell them on the idea, you still have shown your ingenuity and willingness to fight for something you believe in. Those are good character traits for moving up the ladder in most companies.




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





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2012年1月19日 星期四

The Whole Concept of Telecommuting From Home


There are many legitimate companies that have thousands of real, genuine jobs that can be done completely online. Most of these companies have an email alert feature, which sends new jobs straight to your inbox every single day! You can literally have the jobs come to you. You just decide how much time you can afford to dedicate to make extra money, or work full time for several companies, or just one. The variables are endless. Either way, you can pick and choose whichever ones you want to do, and you are working from the comfort of your own home.

You can make money for yourself from companies and people who just want you to research a topic, write in a forum, send email responses, or post a few sentences on a blog, just to name a few. Other online jobs include proofreading, accounting, administrative support, audio cd creation, editing, excel spreadsheets, and order processing. You can get paid well to do these simple tasks that companies and webmasters don't have time to do.

Almost anything you do on the computer can be a job that pays you money. More of these jobs are file uploads, personal assistant, photo enhancer, quality assurance, search advertising, posting ads, search engine optimization, simple searches, sorting or indexing, telemarketing, transcription, virtual assistant, writing letters in Microsoft Word, writing articles in forums and in blogs, medical research, legal research, bookkeeping, coding, and website programming. There are also many courses you can take online to obtain the skills you need to start a home office.

I believe the old fashioned way of going to work to a physical location every day is changing because of the technology that is available today. The benefits to an employer who hires employees that telecommute from their homes are very beneficial. While working from home, employers can stay in constant communication with their employee, either by instant message, email, voice over internet and also web cameras.

The employer can still be in control of the employees attendance on the job, and can even request a certain amount of the work performed to be sent to them every half hour. They can also contract the work out, thereby eliminating payroll tax filing. They would not have to offer benefits, such as health insurance, because basically, the employee is a self contractor, and not an actual employee of the business. Workman's compensation and unemployment insurance premiums would also not be affected, because an employer is not required to provide a contractor with these types of insurance. The benefits to an employer are tremendous.

The benefits to the employee who is working from his home has many perks, also. First, he does not have to deal with traffic every day, which is a big plus in large cities. He does not have to pay for gas to go to work. He does not have to buy office attire, and can wear anything he wants in his home. He can pretty much make his own schedule, and work whenever he wants to with most of the telecommute jobs. He can also self contract himself out to several employers, not just one. However, the employee who works from his home will have to pay his own taxes, and get his own health, life, disability, and unemployment insurance.




Gain access to one of the largest sources of telecommute jobs at http://www.onlinejobsgalore.com
Susan Lambert, Author
Owner/CEO
http://www.onlinejobsgalore.com





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2012年1月16日 星期一

Telecommuting - The Concept, Part 1 of 3


You set your alarm two hours before your job's start time because you have an hour commute ahead of you each day. If you could work while you creep you'd get one hour's worth of work done. There is an alternative to skip the hour commute and gain an hour of work.

Telecommuting - The Concept, Part 1

This article is the first in a series exploring the telecommuting concept. Part II - 'The Journey' talks about being a good telecommuter, approaching your boss about a telecommuting work arrangement, and how to set up your 'virtual office' space away from the office. Part III - 'The Lifestyle' discusses how to mange your work and personal life, structuring your environment, and staying productive.

In the past, information was transmitted via Pony Express and telegraph - now it travels as e-mail through modem lines. This information superhighway has created an opportunity for a new kind of mutually beneficial working partnership: telecommuting. Telecommuting is broadly defined as any method of working productively away from the office. According to the American Telecommuting Association (ATA), "telecommuting is second only to casual days as the fastest-growing shift in traditional working patterns".

Who are you and why do you think you can work away from the office? According to "The Virtual Office Survival Handbook" by Alice Bredin, you need to understand your working habits before you approach your boss. You should consider your ability to: resist distractions, manage your time, set limits on work, and deal with challenges. You also need to determine if you are internally or externally motivated, and if you are an over-or underachiever. If you think you can work from home, read on.

If your work habits and telecommuting are a match, there are advantages to this arrangement for you, your employer, and society. If your lifestyle does allow for full- or part-time work outside of the home you will be productive. Working from home alleviates the need to overcome family/personal issues such as daycare, family illness, events such as a school concert or conferences, and physical or transportation barriers. You can feel better, work harder, save money (childcare, transportation, and parking), avoid commuting time and irritations, and feel motivated to achieve the high performance necessary to keep the position. When you work from home there may be set hours you need to be at your work station yet you have the flexibility to work within the parameters of that day. If the work does not get finished within those set hours you may have the option to come back and finish at a later time that day. Finishing the work with accuracy and professionalism is the goal to gain the feeling of satisfaction and shows your manager that you can and will be productive.

According to the Institute for the Study of Distributed Work, an employer saves over $2,000 per telecommuting employee per year on the cost of absenteeism and reduces business disruptions due to inclement weather, family emergencies, childcare, labor disputes, and so on. The telecommuting option also helps businesses hire and retain experienced workers. By offering a telework option organizations can attract qualified or specialist employees that do not reside near the place of business. Offering it as an option for existing employees helps retain employees, whom have been trained for a specific line of work, and gives the employee an option to continue working with the company instead of needing to quit due to personal reasons or moving out of the geographic area. Telecommuting also saves the employer costs related to office overhead and parking requirements. Society benefits from less pressure on the transportation infrastructure and, subsequently, less air pollution and gas consumption.

INTERESTING FACTS

Advantages For The Employee

More Cash: Telecommuters' home expenses do go up a bit, mostly in the areas of higher communications and utility costs. However, they save on commuting costs, office clothes, dry cleaning, and lunch expenses. In addition
Advantages For The Organization

Bottom-line savings: The payoff in real estate savings is impressive. Dr. Franklin Becker, a professor at Cornell University and co-author of Workplace by Design, says that 70 percent of desks, offices, and workstations are unoccupied or under occupied during a typical workday. Telecommuting allows companies to consolidate office space.

Although telecommuting is very attractive to some employers, there are also three barriers to its success: management difficulties, training issues, and needs of the position. First, managers can be uncomfortable with employees they can't see. Therefore, telecommuting requires a shift to a management-by-objectives style. The manager and employee should agree on pre-established goals for the employee and manage the results versus the process. These performance standards are a guideline of what needs to be done and by what time. Performance is evaluated directly by how the employee meets the performance standards. The performance standards also help the company to keep a close eye on actual cost benefits, productivity, and morale of the telecommuting employee. An open line of communication by phone, fax, or modem allows the manager and telecommuting employee to work out issues that may arise but also keeps the employee in the office 'loop'. The manager needs to make certain an appropriate means of evaluating productivity of the pre-established goals is in place to avoid misunderstandings down the road. Success, for the telecommuter, is measured by results versus hours clocked in the office.

Training is also essential for the success of a telecommuting program. Training should include online orientation and how to set-up a virtual office in the home. You must also determine who is responsible for what expenses (utilities, office supplies, travel expenses to meetings, and so on) and how you will interact with the main office to stay part of the team. Preparation for isolation, distractions, and technical pitfalls -- as well as how to stimulate ideas, creativity, and professionalism - should be considered.

Finally, as mentioned above, not all employees are good candidates for telecommuting. Besides employee personality, an assessment if the job function and a telecommuting job are a good match. Questions regarding the job such as - Does the employee need access to office files to perform the job function?; Are there meetings that the employee will need to attend in person?; Could all supplies be made available in a remote work location to accommodate a telecommuter for a particular job? - need to be answered and successfully evaluated. Furthermore, many employers like to have an employee work in the office from six months up to two years before telecommuting is offered as an option.

Telecommuting must be considered, first and foremost, as a tool for meeting business needs rather than a personal accommodation. That said persons requiring this accommodation can fulfill those business needs creating a mutually beneficial work arrangement. Beyond that, telecommuting can be an enviable lifestyle that adds balance to work and home life.

Subsequent articles will explore steps for selling telecommuting to management or working for yourself while marketing your telecommuting skills to others. There are also nuts and bolts to setting up your 'virtual office' and a new lifestyle that you should be prepared for. Advancements through technology have opened the door to this working partnership. It is not there for the taking but you can find your way to succeeding as a telecommuter.




Toni Grundstrom's expertise is in Marketing. Working for a professional association, government entity, and small business, for over 15 years as a Telecommuter, provides understanding of the concept and the issues surrounding this working option. She advocates for, informs and educates people who telecommute, work at home, or own a home based business. They are Professionals Working At Home

This article may be distributed freely on your website, as long as this entire article, including links and this resource box are unchanged.





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