A new trend that has been taking over the workplace is remote work or work from home jobs. This work arrangement gives employees the flexibility to work from home on a full-time or part-time basis.
I was first introduced to the concept of remote work in early 2013 while I was employed at a global recruiting company. The core team was pretty spread out across the U.S with colleagues in Boston, Atlanta, New York, California, and Florida. But from time to time we also had to work with colleagues in Europe and Australia.
My manager at the Florida office where I was based was pretty easy going, and she told me I could work from home from time to time. This made sense since she worked from home the majority of the time too.
I had never experienced it, so I was pretty excited to try it out, and guess what? I loved it! It took some time to get used to, but it was so much less stressful not having to worry about a daily commute to and from work, and I found myself being super productive.
I was more conscious about making sure to get my work done because I knew it was a nice privilege to have the option to work from home.
Benefits of working from home
I’m not the only one who loves working from home. In fact, 84 percent of remote workers surveyed by Owl Labs agreed that the option to work from home would make them happier. Work from home employees also counted work-life balance, less stress, avoiding the long commute, and increased productivity as the top reasons for flexible work arrangements.
For me, I enjoyed the flexibility that working from home provided. I still kept the same routine that I had when I worked in an office, but I had more flexibility of my time, and once I finished my to-do lists for the day, I could get a few things done around the house or pick up my daughter early from daycare.
If I had a doctor’s appointment, I could easily step away from my home office, run to my appointment, and get back to work once it was over.
But being able to spend a little extra time with my daughter was one of the best parts of working from home.
How you can start working from home
Work from home arrangements has been around for a while, but in recent years the number of companies allowing their employees to work from home has increased significantly. According to a report from the Society for Human Resources Management, 69% of organizations gave employees the option to work from home at least some of the time in 2019 — this is three times the share of companies who allowed telecommuting 20 years ago.
And although work from home is beneficial to employees, it turns out working from home is also mutually beneficial for employers as well.
Studies suggest remote workers are more productive and get more done, increasing company productivity targets, and tend to stay longer with their employers.
These factors, coupled with lower overheads and savings, has increased the number of work from home opportunities.
If you’re interested in the idea of working from home or a work from home lifestyle, it might not be as far fetched as you might think. These days more and more employers are offering work from home opportunities.
Several job websites focus specifically on work from home opportunities or flexible work arrangements.
Remote.co
Remote.co is a leading provider of work from home job opportunities. Their website features a wide variety of remote opportunities across many industries from all around the world. Companies looking to recruit remote workers pay a fee to have their job posting listed on the site.
The site boasts hundreds of work home jobs, including accounting, customer service, marketing, writing, programming, and even teaching. The jobs are organized by each category, and you can see how recently the job was posted to apply for the newer postings easily.
The website also lists a detailed job description, salary, and benefits of the position. If you are looking exclusively for work from home opportunities, this site is a good resource.
FlexJobs
FlexJobs is another great resource for finding work from home job opportunities. This website hosts thousands of remote opportunities, including full-time and part-time jobs, as well as employee and freelance jobs.
According to their website, they “make it easier, faster, and safer to find a job that better fits your life.”
Many companies use it to find remote workers, including big names like Apple, Aetna, PwC, Hilton, and Dell.
Remote.co and Flexjobs are just two options you can use to find work from home opportunities. You can also use most job search websites to find remote jobs, just make sure to filter the location by remote, and the companies that have work from home job opportunities should appear at the top.
Also, remember, if you aren’t totally happy with your work situation, many other opportunities exist that can be tailored to your lifestyle, personal, financial, and work goals. You just have to adopt a solution-oriented mindset, be aware, stay positive, and keep an open mindset.
