The world of work is shifting, from offices to home-based work. Companies of all sizes, in all industries, are recognizing the benefits of having home-based workers—and opening new positions that need to be filled. But what type of people work from home? Could you be one of them?
It could be someone who took a break from her career to raise a family and is interested in contributing to the family budget while still being available to participate in and manage the family’s activities.
It could be someone who is underemployed and looking to supplement their income.
It could be a military spouse who needs the flexibility of working from anywhere since she moves frequently.
It could be someone who is tired of work dominating their life and looking to improve work-life balance.
It could be a retiree who misses interacting with people every day but doesn’t want to go back to work full-time.
It could be someone who is disabled and can’t work in an office setting but has skills and experience that can greatly benefit a company.
It could be someone just starting a career, who needs to build his resume to get the job he wants.
And yes, it could be you!
Working from home may sound too good to be true. Where will you work? When will you work? How will you find an opportunity like that? How much can it really pay? Will it be worth your time and effort, or will it be a scam?
These are all good questions. Everyone has heard about work-from-home scams, but the legitimate work-from-home opportunities do exist, and thousands of people are making these opportunities work for them, instead of fitting their lives around work.
With a little effort you can enjoy the many benefits of working from home. Things like:
- Setting your own schedule. Work when it’s convenient for you—not when someone tells you to be available.
- Making work fit around your life and not the other way around.
- Avoiding long commutes. Enough said.
- Saving money. Working from home can save you thousands of dollars each year in food costs, commute costs, clothing costs, childcare…the list goes on.
- Saving time. No commute, no elaborate morning “getting ready” routine and no on-site co-workers to help you find ways to waste time.
- Helping to support your family or your passion. It’s a wonderful feeling when it all comes together.
- Being your own boss. The freedom to choose, to direct your work-life balance, is priceless.
More people than ever before are discovering the benefits of working from home. You can be one of them! Check websites like FlexJobs, Glassdoor and other job posting sites to find opportunities. Do your online research and find the best fit for your skills and goals. Set up your home office, take a deep breath and dive in. And good luck in your work-from home journey!
Karen Beaman is the Director of Agent Acquisition and Onboarding at LiveOps and has enjoyed the benefits of working from home for the past seven years. She is responsible for sourcing and onboarding talented, independent contractor agents to work from home and provide professional contact center services to LiveOps’ clients. Karen has held a variety of leadership roles in her 15 years of contact center experience and now leads her team in the development of cutting edge recruitment, crowd sourcing and onboarding strategies to effectively grow a large distributed workforce and improve the talent available in the cloud. For more information on LiveOps, please visit: join.liveops.com.
