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Topic: What are telecommute jobs?
| Author | Message |
| D_S | Posted – 2/13/2008 11:49:36 AM | show profile | email poster And how are they different from on site and freelance jobs? I've tried looking around the Web, but somehow the difference is not very clear to me. Perhaps, the pros can guide me better... |
| wineaux | Posted – 2/13/2008 12:23:44 PM | show profile to work without leaving your home by using telephone lines to carry data between your home and your employer's place of business |
| foodlit | Posted – 2/13/2008 3:23:46 PM | show profile Telecommute basically means 'work from home'. Usually it will be a job that can be done with little to no face to face interaction and communication is done by phone or email. More and more companies are going this route as it saves on office expenses and workers are often more productive...depending on the job of course. I used to telecommute for a large bank doing hr work. I recruited nationally for them, and all interviews were done over the phone, and resumes sent by email to hiring managers. When I did an initial contract for them it was onsite and from home one day a week. They then rolled out an initiative where they surveyed all workers to see how many jobs could be done from home offices. Now I work from home for myself, but also telecommute with colleagues as we work on each others searches. I love working from home! Pam |
| Cyrus | Posted – 2/13/2008 4:56:40 PM | show profile I've not seen much of an increase, if any, in the number of full-time, corporate-type jobs offering telecommuting benefits. Certainly some companies embrace it, but almost all of them offer it as a flexible benefit for maybe 1 or 2 days a week. Telecommuting will never take off en masse because, despite the savings it gives to employers, it also exposes a MAJOR issue. If everyone works from home, you need far fewer managers and managers are never going to gord their own ox. For better or worse, this is one "trend" that's been overhyped. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| writesonwater | Posted – 2/14/2008 7:56:34 AM | show profile | email poster I know of a couple trade publications that are getting AWAY from telecommutes. I don't see it on the rise for full-time writing/editing work. I do see publications going this route for freelance writing and editing to compensate for real jobs they've laid off, but in both instances they have nickeled and dimed the freelancer in an effort to maximize the benefits of having gotten rid of a job. ------ http://writingporch.blogspot.com/ http://jlouiselarson.blogspot.com/ http://familyrootsandwings.blogspot.com/ |
| foodlit | Posted – 2/14/2008 11:42:30 AM | show profile Cyrus, I have to respectfully disagree that this is a 'trend' that has been overhyped. I've seen across many industries that it is something that will continue to increase. It is more prevalent in some job types than others and at different levels. It is more common as you mentioned, for telecommuting to be a 'reward' of sorts for people to work from home part-time, but it's definitely on the rise as employers save money by doing it and it helps tremendously with retention. It shouldn't affect the need for managers at all though, because people will still need to be managed whether they work at home or in the office, they are still part of a team or project. It's also not for everyone. Generally people who succeed at telecommuting are seasoned employees who don't need as much direction and can be disciplined to get the work done. I know I could not have done it when I was starting out, as I needed the social interaction and mentoring of others in the office. Pam |
| Cyrus | Posted – 2/14/2008 6:18:06 PM | show profile Pam, One's mileage on this issue might vary, but I expect that it will remain largely a benefit given to people on an occasional and/or part-time basis regularly. While people still do have to be managed, you simply don't need the same number of managers if people aren't working full-time in an office. Once you get to a certain corporate level, all you do is spend most of the day in meetings or other management-related tasks. If there's nobody in an office, who's there to meet with? I just have to laugh at some of the stuff corporate America comes up with sometimes. I was at a meeting earlier today where the topic was about how firms could become more environmentally friendly. All the while, I was thinking that if we got away from this notion that we all had to stare at each other in offices, that would eliminate the need to talk about things like recycling office paper, choosing offices with environmentally-friendly attributes like efficient heating, lighting, recycled fiber carpet, etc. Not to mention the fact that if everybody wasn't commuting to work in cars, we'd eliminate a large portion of our greenhouse gas issue. (Obviously there are a lot of mass transit riders in some cities, but I'm talking across the country here). So many times, initiatives are just brought up because companies like to hear themselves talk. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
