Work From Home – Telecommuting
In an age of computing and technology it’s absolutely no surprise to see a rise in the number of employees who work from home. Despite the flack that the Australian telecommunications network gets from the media and the computer nerds, overall it’s got the goods to utilize some of the most bandwidth hungry user applications available. Let’s also not forget the National Broadband Network has also been given the green light, promising thousands of Telecommunications Jobs to Australians over the next 8 – 10 years. Keeping this in mind I think it’s safe to say that “Telecommuting” is the future for the Australian Workforce. Of course not everyone is going to be able to take advantage of it but lets have a look at a few industries that will be able to make the most of it.
- IT Services: Let’s start with an obvious one. The IT industry has fast become one of the most vital parts of our working community to date. Almost all of the tasks we perform in our everyday job rely on the successful functionality of computers. When our work PC breaks down it’s the inhouse techie that comes to the rescue. Most of the time they don’t even need to come to your desk to fix the issue, they simply log on to you computer remotely while talking to you over your IP Telephone and in 5 minutes you’re back up and running. This is a great example of a job that can be done from home or a centralized location, they don’t always need to be onsite.
- Call Center Agents: Here is another example of a service we all rely on that can easily be classed as a “work from home” job. When you call into a lager company and listen to the recording giving us all of our options then you go through to an operator you simply don’t know physically where that operator is situated, and frankly WHO CARES! As long as they have the information you need it doesn’t matter if there are in an office or working from home.
- Real Estate Agents: Not necessarily a work from home job traditionally. But new 3G technology is now allowing them to spend more time on the road selling property and less time chained to a computer in the office. Emails can now be checked from Blackberrys and iPhones whilst on the road. Databases can be accessed and altered from a home PC using secure VPN (Virtual Private Networking) and in such a performance driven position it’s not hard for the boss to tell when their salesmen are slacking off.
- Graphic Designers: Let’s finally look at a position that requires someone who is always in front of a computer (except when they’re out finding inspiration). They may speak with their clients over the phone, maybe meet up with them once to go over a few particulars for design, but 99% of their working life is spent in front of a computer. This is the perfect work from home job. They can be connected to the companies network via VPN, accress their emails and phonecalls over this VPN and have the peace and serenity needed to get the job done.
Without a doubt there are pleanty of jobs out there that can make use of “Telecommuting”, but why would a company want to let their employees work from home in the first place? There are pleanty of reasons, the biggest being not having to pay rent for an unnecessarily extravagant office in the city. But beyond the initial monetary cost rational it has been documented that “91% of those surveyed find the Telecommuting is very important in improving their overall job satisfaction”. In this article CISCO actually used their own technology to allow over 20,000 employees to work from home. Not only did they save over $227 million, but their overall productivity increased! Amazing! With increasing Internet speeds, VPN technologies, and the introduction of Cloud Computing the logical step for big business is to start thinking about Telecommuting for their existing and potential employees. So what does this mean for active and potential job seekers? I means that if you are looking for a job you no longer have to limit yourself to your immediate geographic surroundings, you can get a job on the other side of the country and still work from home. Have a think about what industry you are in and use it to enhance your employability.
