When you mention work-at-home to most people, they immediately think about having a home-based business. Of course, that’s a great way to work at home. You can become totally independent, be your own boss and work when and if it pleases you.
Could you be a remote worker?
There is another type of work at home job and that’s called being a remote worker. For example, my son who is a network architect for AT&T works out of his house and never sees the inside of an office. He is part of a “virtual” team and has a manager who lives in Wisconsin and who he has never met face to face.
If you’re not prepared to create your own at-home business, you might be able to become a remote worker. Of course, you will need to convince your company that you can do your job from home, either full-time or several days a week. This might surprise you, but we have a friend who is the HR manager of a very large bank and who works out of her home two days a week. Five or six years ago this would have been unthinkable. However, companies today realize that it’s actually cheaper for them to have remote workers than employees with offices and the entire attendant overhead.
Wow! No more commutes
What are the benefits of being a remote worker? First, you will save a lot on gas because you will no longer be commuting to a job. You should be able to reduce the cost of your auto insurance, maintenance and tires. For that matter, if you’re a two-car family, you might be able to get rid of one of those cars and save a whole parcel of money.
Second, you should be able to save on clothes because you’ll no longer have to dress for work. When you work from home you can forget about expensive lunches as you will be able to prepare thrifty and healthy meals right at home.
How are you on self-discipline?
There is a downside to working at home. You need to be a real self-starter because you won’t have anyone looking over your shoulder telling you what to do or when to do it. You will need to be able to get up every morning, sit down at your computer and start work. Frankly, this is not for everyone. Some people have found it’s better to work in an office with a manager and other people then at home all by themselves.
Where to find remote jobs
What can you do if you would like to work at home but your company won’t permit it? Maybe you should find another company. There are several websites such as www.odesk.com, www.guru.com and www.elance.com that have good listings of companies that hire remote workers. Some of these are part-time or seasonal jobs but this might be right up your alley. There are thousands of moms who are staying at home with their children but helping support their families with part time, work-at-home jobs. And of course, there are full-time jobs for remote workers but in many cases full-time means just 30 hours a week.
