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CHAPTER 1
Work-at-Home at a Glance
We said we wouldnāt weigh you down with heavy statistics and other data about home-based work (and we wonāt), but we do want to share briefly some telework basics before we dig in to the good stuff. We promise to keep it short!
What is telework?
Telework has various definitions, but the simplest way to think of it might be āwork thatās done in an unconventional location, often from home, using electronic communications tools to send and receive workflow.ā
Though home-based telework will be our primary theme, telework takes many forms: a mom (or dad) handling customer-service calls in a spare room, a blogger writing in a cafĆ©, a retiree answering questions on ChaCha.com from an RV park, a marketing exec videoconferencing back to company headquarters from a clientās officeāall are teleworking.
As wonderful as telework can be for the individual, remember that, from the employerās viewpoint, itās a management option rather than a worker right or ābenefit,ā and is justified by the advantages it offers the companyānot the worker. In the following pages, youāll hear companies say or imply this, and weāll repeat it, too, as it will help you optimize your resume and job applications, and start working ASAP.
While weāre speaking of companies, historically they were reluctant (especially the larger Fortune 500s) to hire workers directly from home. Fortunately, companies such as Aetna, UnitedHealth Group, American Express, and others are moving away from the old customs, and hiring qualified workers to work from their homes immediately.
Categories of telework arrangements
Telework arrangements come in several categories: full, partial, and episodic or situational.
Full Telework is the situation many people seek. It involves working from home (or anywhere) 100 percent of the time, with perhaps an occasional trip to the company office, or in-office training before staying home. Many freelance workers or independent contractors (in other words, the self-employed) enjoy this arrangement.
Partial Telework usually consists of a regular schedule of one to three days per week at home, but can also include as few as two to three days per month. These schedules are often seen in corporate or federal/state agency telecommuting programs.
Situational or Episodic Telework has been getting more attention in whatās called ābusiness continuity,ā as companies see businesses shut down and lose revenues when man-made or natural disasters make office-based work impossible (for example, the 9/11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, bird and swine flu, and so on).
Wildfires, earthquakes, and other disastersāas well as smaller events such as snowstorms and power outagesāalso make situational telework an attractive option for employers and workers alike.
Types of positions suited for telework
As you begin the search for home-based work, itās important to consider the types of positions or work employers are authorizing for telework. Studies as well as the job market itself indicate that these positions often involve workers who:
Work alone or independently, with little or no supervision.
Perform āknowledge-basedā work rather than āproductionā tasks.
Donāt require daily or frequent face-to-face interaction with colleagues or managers.
Donāt need frequent access to on-site equipment and resources.
Take the initiative, where appropriate, to make the arrangement work well for all concerned.
In the early days of telework, hirers often limited off-site arrangements to technical or other āanalyticā work. As youāll see in the following chapters, those narrow boundaries have expanded greatly and are continuing to growācreating home-based opportunities across a wide spectrum of jobs, and creating entirely new job categories as well.
Even so, the success of a telework arrangement depends as much on the nature of the worker as it does on the work, and not everyone is suited to be home-based. The self-assessment that follows in Chapter 2 will help you determine whether youāre really ready to work at home.
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CHAPTER 2
Are You Ready to
Work at Home?
In our years of delivering work-at-home training programs at the U.S. State Department, military bases, community colleges, and so on, weāve found that successful teleworkers share certain traits which give them an advantage in a home-based position.
Weāve also met a fair number of people who, despite their genuine desire to work from home, wind up struggling when it becomes a reality.
The following self-assessment will help you determine whether you possess the traits that help home-based workers stay on track and succeed.
Read each of the numbered questions/statements and circle the answer that most accurately describes you or your situation. There are no right or wrong answers; the best approach is simply to be as honest as possible. Your candor will also help assure that the assessment results are accurate, which in turn will guide you toward changes you might make to improve your chances for telework success.
Work-at-home readiness assessment
1. When it comes to socializing at work:
a. I need to socialize at work, and in fact I wouldnāt have much of a social life at all if not for my interactions with coworkers.
b. I consider my workplace my primary social outlet.
c. I do whatās necessary to be āacceptedā at work, but I have a satisfying social life outside of work.
d. I donāt need constant interaction with my coworkers, and they often interrupt my workflow.
e. I donāt think people should socialize with their coworkers.
f. I donāt really care for other people very much.
2. Do you organize projects or initiatives well, and get things done when they should be done?
a. No, never.
b. Once in a while.
c. Sometimes.
d. More than half the time.
e. Yes, most of the time.
f. Always.
3. How comfortable are you with the Internet?
a. Iām still using a typewriter and loving it!
b. I donāt know much about the Internet, and thatās okay with me.
c. Iām ready to spend more time on the Internet, but Iām not sure where to begin.
d. Iām comfortable online, but I plan to have someone else handle online activities as soon as I can.
e. I use the Internet regularly in my personal or work life.
f. Iāve embraced the Internet entirely.
4. Do you have trouble concentrating on tasks at hand because youāre thinking of all the other things you have to do?
a. All the time.
b. Frequently.
c. Quite a bit.
d. Sometimes.
e. Once in a while.
f. Not at all.
5. How difficult do you find it to organize your activities so you can focus on and execute whatās most important?
a. Things seem overwhelming most days.
b. I try to plan, but somehow I get off track.
c. I move ahead, but interruptions are a problem.
d. Iām not a perfect organizer, but I manage to get everything done by putting in extra time.
e. Iām a little disorganized, but by the end of my set hours Iāve accomplished everything necessary.
f. Not at all.
6. With regard to job-related goals:
a. I donāt give them much value.
b. I change my goals almost day to day.
c. Iāve put nothing in writing, but know what I want to achieve.
d. I set down my goals every January 1, but most are forgotten during the year.
e. Iāve written out my goals, but some are probably far-fetched.
f. Iāve listed goals that are specific, measurable, and realistic.
7. When it comes to Internet- and computer-based business tools:
a. I swear by paper-based systems and have no plans to change.
b. I love them for basic tasks such as word processing, but Iāve ventured no further.
c. I understand theyāre a must and am making an effort to learn more.
d. I know how to use basic software programs and how to navigate the Internet fairly well.
e. Iām generally familiar with them but rely mainly on the expertise of others.
f. Iām comfortable with them and look forward to learning more.
8. How often do you answer e-mail tardily, neglect to return a call, miss a deadline, or otherwise fall short from juggling too many things at once?
a. All the time.
b. Very often.
c. Quite a bit.
d. Not frequently, but enough to bother me.
e. Once in a great while.
f. Never.
9. A friend calls during a workday to tell you about a great one-day sale at your favorite store. You:
a. Tell yourself āa sale is a sale!ā and drop everything to go shopping.
b. Skim through your work so you can get to the store before the sale is over.
c. Tell her youāll only be able to take a three-hour break, and go.
d. Compose and e-mail her a...
