Web Worker Daily

Even though corporate telecommuters can leave the sterile cloth walls of their cubicles, they can’t escape the long arm of the conference call. This means that corporations launching a telecommuting program need to carefully consider how their remote workers will communicate via telephone. There are several choices:

• VoIP
• Plain Old Telephone Systems (POTS)
• Mobile
• Hybrid

It’s important that remote workers have a business line that rings separately from their home phone. This post is going to look at these options for corporate telecommuters.

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Many large corporations, and even Federal government agencies, are increasingly interested in launching telecommuting programs as a tool for reducing overhead and for employee retention. However, such programs aren’t turnkey affairs. They require infrastructure, planning and strategy in order to be successful.

This post is going to look at some of the organizational considerations for building, launching and supporting a successful remote work program. While some of these points may seem obvious for the seasoned web workers in our audience, they do need to be factored into the overall corporate decision-making process when implementing an employee telecommuting program. Read the rest of this entry »

Employers are increasingly concerned about the risks to their data security posed by telecommuting employees. As a telecommuter, your ability to discuss and address those concerns is important, to make sure that you’re allowed to continue telecommuting, or to convince an employer to let you start telecommuting in the first place.

Data Security Basics

The biggest concern for many employers is just how safe their data is. An employer can put some very specific safeguards in place in an office environment, controlling just who has access to specific computers, and so on. But it’s reasonable for an employer to be a little worried about just who has access to their information at your home. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking for telecommuting jobs on most of the major job boards can be pretty hit or miss, especially if you’re looking for a full-time job rather than a part-time gig. Still, depending on what type of work you’re interested in, finding the right telecommuting job can be easier if you keep a few things in mind.

Focus on the Company, Rather than the Job Title

Certain companies are just much more likely to offer the opportunity to telecommute than others. As long as telecommuting is already a part of the company culture, you won’t be in the awkward position of having to sell a new employer on the idea. It makes sense to pick out a few companies that you’re interested in working for, and then start exploring their actual job openings. Since many companies don’t list many of the job openings they have on the majority of job boards, searching for a new position by employer, rather than job title, can speed up the process. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, a client decided to give me more responsibility for his project. He told me to manage the writing tasks of the other writers on our team. Only after handling this task did I realize what it was like to work with a writer from Mexico, another from India, and another one traveling through Europe – all while reporting to the client in Kansas. Having an international team is commonplace in web work, in fact, it’s almost a given. But what effect does this borderless office have on the individual web worker and the team as a whole? Read the rest of this entry »

In a recent post here at WWD, Dawn Foster brought up a discussion about the direction that online freelancing is likely to take this year.  It might be interesting to look at the other half of the web working population – corporate employees who are telecommuting or plan to do so.

A year ago, the outlook for corporate telecommuting seemed optimistic.  More and more businesses and government agencies were taking the risk to allow their employees to telework.  This was good news to cubicle dwellers who saw teleworking as a way to achieve better work-life balance and for business owners to attract top talent and cut costs in the long run.

Then, the economy turned out in such a way that taking these risks suddenly became too risky.  In times like these, businesses will lean towards one of two approaches to this dilemma:

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This is the question that I dread more than any other over the holidays, which is saying quite a bit, since my vegan diet also tends to generate another set of awkward questions.

During the rest of the year, my life is filled mostly with other technology workers and freelancers who easily understand what I do for a living. However, the holidays can be a different story when I’m faced with people who know little about what it means to be a web worker.

Over the past few years, I’ve held a number of jobs involving various types of web work. While at Intel, I managed teams of people spread out over several states. I’ve telecommuted from Portland to a company in California. I’ve managed online communities of people with members located around the world. Currently, I work out of my house and coffee shops as an online community and social media consultant.

Here are a few of the scenarios I have encountered as a result of the “What do you do?” question:

Scenario 1: The goof off
Me: I work for Company X managing their online community.
Them: Never heard of Company X. Where is the office?
Me: In California.
Them: Are you moving to California?
Me: No, I work out of my home office over the phone and email mostly.
Them: Cool, I wish I had a job where I could goof off all day.
Me: Sigh

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One of the downsides of web working is that you’re prone to distractions at home, whether it’s the snacks calling to you from the fridge or a toddler throwing tantrums.  I experience these distractions everyday and have found ways around most of them.  My most important “weapon against mass distractions”, so to speak, was to wake up at 2:00am and work while the rest of the neighborhood sleeps.

Except for my new neighbors, of course.  They moved in last week and, since then, it’s been one loud evening after another.

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