In the last few years,
working from home has gone from being a rarity to a reality.
With advances in
technology, more people are able to link to work from their home computers or
laptops. And as employees continue to crave flexibility and yearn for a better
work/life balance, more people are working from home for at least part of their
workweek.
Home-based companies
While many companies are
allowing existing employees to transition to various telecommuting options,
some companies are also building work forces that are made up solely of
employees working from home.
Here is a sample of 10
companies that only hire at-home workers:
• Alpine Access is a call
center company that uses customer service representatives that work from home.
Employees use their own telephones and computers. The company provides
representatives for clients like Office Depot and J. Crew.
• Convergys hires
home-based call center agents who provide support in customer service, and also
supplies sales agents or help desk staff for companies.
• Extended Presence
provides their clients with outbound sales agents and marketing support staff
who work from home.
• Internet Girl Friday
provides information technology support as well as administrative services for
clients nationwide.
• LiveOps provides customer
service support for a variety of major corporations.
• Spheris provides support
to medical professionals. Their services include medical transcription and
clinical documentation.
• Staffcentrix supplies
virtual assistants for business clients, including CEOs and upper management of
major corporations.
• VIPDesk provides call
center support and also offers a home-based concierge service to clients.
• Voicelog provides
representatives to perform verifications for transactions done online or by
telephone. Many states require changes to telephone service and other remote
transactions to be verified by a third party, which VoiceLog provides.
• West At Home also hires
home-based customer service agents. They cater to a specific range of
industries, specializing in health care and pharmaceutical support, as well as
the hospitality industry.
Employees need to meet some
basic requirements, including having a telephone and access to a PC. Although
the work is conducted from home, interviews for the job aren't always done
remotely.
Working at home is a
growing and legitimate opportunity, but workers should still beware of any job
that asks you to invest money, provide access to a bank account or give up a
great deal of personal information up front. These are indicators of a possible
scam. Keep in mind home based business opportunities will require investment
fees these are not jobs be sure to understand the difference. Never pay if you
are not getting something back in return such as product, websites, benefits,
etc….. This is how you will know if it is a true business opportunity
Traditional companies with
home-based workers
Some traditional companies
also have home-based workers in the mix as part of their overall staffing
strategies. Companies as diverse as American Airlines, TDS Telecom,
1-800-FLOWERS, Sprint and Xerox have programs that enable traditional workers
to transition to telecommuting or hire workers specifically to work at home.
Aetna is one of the
companies that has developed and implemented such a program. "Our telework
program started as a grassroots initiative to keep talented employees when
there were site consolidations," Aetna Telework Program head Eileen Levin
explains.
The program, which started
only a few years ago, has become very popular with employees. Levin notes that
since the inception of the program, participation has jumped 300 percent.
Around 10,000 Aetna employees, or 27 percent of the company's work force, now
work from home.
Levin says that the company
looks at several factors before transitioning a job or task to be done at home.
Aetna ensures that the employee is an appropriate candidate to work at home. It
also confirms that the home office is a stable, business-friendly environment.
And most importantly, Aetna carefully considers whether the job
is an appropriate choice to be performed by home-based workers.
Children's Healthcare of
Atlanta is another company that is mixing traditional workers with employees
who work from home. These home-based employees include medical
transcriptionists and nurses who operate the hospital's Advice Line, a hotline
where Laurie Peterson, one of the Advice Line nurses, has been working for CHOA
from home for 11 years. She takes calls that vary from minor questions to
emergency situations, and provides callers with a recommended course of action
based on their conversations.
Peterson says, "I
really enjoy being able to use my nursing judgment and experience right here in
the convenience of my own home. We get inquiries from people both locally and
all over the world seeking help with their child's health problems. At the end
of a shift, it's very fulfilling for me to know I've helped allay a parent's
fears."
If you're a worker who
wants to transition from commuting to the office to working at home, talk to
your company. Think about these discussion points before approaching your boss:
• Talk to the company about
how offering this option to you and other employees will benefit them. Money
talks, so be sure to refer to any potential savings the company will see by
implementing this program. With gas prices at a record high, you should also
underscore your savings, as well as the environmental benefits of working from
home.
• Not every job or every
process can be done from home, so be ready with a plan. Identify jobs and
transactions at the company that can be done easily, safely and securely from
home.
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