I don’t think there can be any doubting the legitimacy of working from home while answering phones for a large established company that just wants to tap in to the more flexible, and usually cheaper, WAHM or retired market. A professional job without the overheads for the company or the travel costs for the telecommuter. The problems arise when the company isn’t in the FTSE or NASDAQ.

If ‘Bobs Gardening’ in Vegas wants an out-of-hours customer support agent he can put a post on a site like ours and reach the very people he needs. But is Bob evil? Will Bob take a months worth of your work and then decide to fire you without pay? Is Bob legitimate?

Here are a few litmus tests to use when asking are work at home jobs legitimate -

1. What kind of email is the job poster using? Is it a free gmail account or is it acompany.com? If it’s acompany.com check that the address has a website. If its a gmail or yahoo don’t fret, they may not want their company inbox jammed up, just send them an initial message or resume but after reaching the negotiation stage make sure you do so through their bona fide email address.

2. Once you’ve checked that their methods of communication are legit then check that the company itself is. You can go through government bodies to check credentials but this is usually overkill. Just google the company name and see if any red flags go up.

3. Get paid fast. The above suggestions are fine when working for people that have some sort of registered company, but what about those that need you most. The one-(wo)man-band that is juggling 10 different aspects of his/her business at once that desperately needs a flexible hand. They may only have a gmail account! The simplest test is to get paid early and often. If you’ve just started working for someone insist on getting paid weekly, or even daily, until you build that trust between each other. This way if Bob is evil you’ll only have lost a little time and cash.

So – are work at home jobs legitimate? Yes, but take a few initial steps to make sure your employer is the good sort, they’ll understand, and as the trust grows you’ll become their telecommuting right hand and there’s nothing like being indispensable.

hiremyparents.com – vetted & screened work at home jobs

Think about what the term ‘balance’ means to you.  Are you picturing a pair of scales with equal amounts in each dish?  The definition of balance in Dictionary.com is ‘a state of equilibrium or equipoise’.  Is this what you’re trying to achieve in your life?

The fact of the matter is that life is never equally doled out in these measures.  Sometimes, work can take up all your time and then you have days upon days with the kids during school holidays.  No wonder people are always stressed and feeling guilty that they’re not putting enough time into various areas of their life – and let’s not even get started on exercise, visiting relatives and all the other little things that take up our time.

So, what’s the answer?  Well, firstly, I think it’s to address the very term.  Why not call it work/life compro-balance?  Simply by changing the term, it changes expectations and beliefs about what is possible to achieve.  The ‘compro’ in this case represents compromise ‘a settlement of differences by mutual concessions’ by Dictionary.com definitions.

The use of this new term reflects the achievement of ‘balance’ in life much more truthfully as in the pursuit of this state, there will always be concessions made.  There is simply not enough time in the day to achieve everything we want to and whereas use of the old term seemed to indicate this was possible, the new allows people to understand it isn’t always.

Think about the term work-life compro-balance, does the use of this term relieve the pressure of trying to be all things to all people?  Allow you the opportunity to forgive yourself if you don’t get everything done in the day?

The second step of the process is to use the term to re-evaluate what you’re trying to achieve.  List the areas of your life that need to be attended to, for example, sleep, children, husband, work, friends, business, housework, exercise, including things that you might like to do but have never been able to before.

Then, think of your life as a 100% whole, acknowledging that the time we have is finite and we can’t create any more out of thin air.  Divide this whole into those things you are required to do (they will need to be factored in first), followed by those you want to do.  It’s up to you how you do this but a weekly or monthly representation would be more effective as some things are only done once a week or month.

By looking at your results you will be able to see a representation of your time and how much you truly have for exercise or coffee with friends.  When you have this understanding, you can not only start trying to reallocate percentages by, for example, hiring a cleaner to allow time for exercise but you will also have an understanding of why you aren’t able to fit certain things in your life, thus reducing guilt and the feeling of pressure.

The resulting feeling of understanding and the knowledge that you are in control of all aspects of your life – that is true balance.

Alli Price runs Motivating Mum, a website and events business offering support and advice for mums in business, or those starting up.  www.motivatingmum.co.uk

 

More Work/Life Balance Articles…

What is Work/life Balance? | Sally Lever

on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much – the wheel, New York, wars and so.

Work/Life Balance… or Blend? | davefleet.com

The more you are passionate about the work you do, the more that work BECOMES life.

Work Life Balance – What’s it Worth to You? | BALANCE ACT

When considering your work life balance, take some time to ask what it’s worth to you. Your answer may hold the key to what to do next.

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However, despite the benefits, telecommuting ranks high on the list of data protection threats for organizations, particularly if there is no formal policy in place. The most common missteps include using unsecured networks, sharing company laptops or equipment with family members and friends, and failing to update software and install security patches, among others.

Below, I’ve included some important advice that every institution should know about telecommuting from ID theft expert Brian Lapidus, chief operating officer of Kroll’s Fraud Solutions, who has unique frontline experience helping today’s businesses safeguard against and respond to data breaches

• Establish a baseline by assessing all current telecommuting activities. Even if no employees are formally authorized to work remotely, chances are it happens anyway – think sick children, inclement weather and other unexpected events. The technology afforded to most office workers allows them to do a substantial amount of work from a remote location. Many employees take advantage of this fact to ‘work from home’ during an emergency or to ‘catch up at home’ when work starts to pile up. Regardless of the reason, the threat of data breach is very real, and must be assessed.
• Develop a comprehensive telecommuting security policy. A clear and concise security policy that establishes the roles and requirements of employees is absolutely essential to ensuring a successful telecommuting program. The policy should specifically outline security measures and procedures for handling sensitive data, including storage and disposal. While the focus will undoubtedly be on cyber security, organizations should make sure to address the proper handling of paper files. Consider providing employees with shredders or secure storage containers to meet this requirement.
• Make decisions on equipment usage. An organization’s policy on equipment usage is an important component to an organization’s telecommuting security policy (see #2). Organizations should decide up front whether telecommuting employees will use personal computers or company-issued equipment, as this will be a major factor in what cyber security measures can and cannot be implemented. Providing equipment gives the company more control over security issues, but employees must be provided with explicit instructions for the care and usage of the devices (i.e., never leave laptops unattended in public, never download and install programs without company approval). Even if the organization allows employees to use their own PCs, certain minimum security measures must be in place, such as firewalls, anti-virus and spyware programs, and encryption software.
• Provide adequate technical support and training. Before sending employees home with sensitive company information whether via laptop or hardcopy file, they should be trained on the requirements set forth in the organizations telecommuting security policy. In the case of laptop and network use, ensure that employees fully understand how to access data securely. Remote workers should be trained periodically in techniques to spot suspicious activity, including signs that a computer has been infected with malware. Access to technical support is also an important factor without support, an employee might be tempted to do whatever it takes to get the system up and running when something goes wrong, including disabling security features.
• Conduct periodic audits. Even if the company’s IT department has remote management capability, it’s important to verify firsthand that all equipment is in good condition and working properly. Have employees bring in equipment periodically for a checkup, and review logs to determine what information has been accessed.
• Don’t assume that restricting access to applications and systems is a fix for the program. Productivity will be negatively impacted if remote workers don’t have access to the tools and information necessary to perform. Don’t let the cons outweigh the pros. Face the problem head on with a comprehensive security policy and sound cyber security measures and organizations will be free to reap the rewards that telecommuting can provide.

In a very dark room, where we keep our web programmers, a new website is being built to promote the ‘Supporting Parents In Business’ campaign as a standalone project.

Using various methods of guilt and hot-flushes we have managed to secure the support of many large firms from both sides of the Atlantic. Part of the deal being that they have to promote flexible work and post their flex jobs on hmp. In return they get a socially responsible pat on the back and the chance to put their logo on the site.

We’re trying to make a ‘SPIB’ badge a must have for business, a way to show that they are a considerate employer and adhere to the principle of flexible working. And we need your help.

We need to show employers that flexible work is no longer a nice extra in todays workplace but something that is integral to the choices a parent makes when choosing a company. As an employee or a customer.

To this end we want you to tell business what flexible work means to you. Take 5 minutes to put your thoughts in order and then sit in front of a webcam and talk.

Introduce yourself, explain your family situation and then give us just a few seconds of how a flexible job would mean all the difference to you and your family.

We’re taking the gloves off. Government and business have danced around the subject for years and concessions have been slow in coming. We have the numbers now, and they’re growing daily. We want your voices to be heard on the subject to apply pressure, to make it a social embarrassment not to offer flexible work, to be a business pariah to both employees and consumers.

You get the idea.

Your videos will be shown on the new SPIB website to give it a human face, real people with real views; to bring flexible work out of the confines of the HR policy review and legislative meetings and show the groundswell of support that flexible work has behind it.

We need to push this now. And keep pushing. I hope you’ll help.

Record a short video of why flexible work is important to you and send the file to spibsite@hiremyparents.com – this is just step 1, we will be calling on you again.

Below are a few tips to keep that flexibility a reality and your new lifestyle on an even keel:

• Always meet deadlines
• Always be the one to answer the phone during work hours
• Reply to emails asap
• Treat your telecommuting job as if you were at the office
• Lay down the rules to your family and friends about your work hours

Stick to these simple rules as though gospel and your boss won’t have any regrets in letting you work from home and you can keep all the benefits working.

Related Benefits Working From Home Articles …

Four Benefits of Working from Home

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Step 1: Review Organizational Policy
See if your organization has written policies on compressed workweeks or flextime. If so, read them. If there are no policies, recommend that the organization set up a cross-functional task force to develop them.

Step 2: Consider the Costs and Benefits
Can compressed workweeks and flextime help your department and organization improve results? Look for opportunities that will help you better serve your internal and external customers.

Step 3: Move from Idea to Plan
If you think compressed workweeks and/or flextime schedules make sense for your unit, you will need to figure out work schedules, appropriate models, participation, supervision and communication. You will find the points to cover as part of the Implementation Checklist.

Step 4: Move from Plan to Action
Now is the time to present your plan to staff, receive feedback and request employee proposals. Remember to include in your discussion non-participating employees who might be affected by these changes. Contact HR for guidance on tracking and reporting vacation, holidays, sick leave and personal days off. Also consult HR about documentation that may be required by law.

Step 5: Initiate a trial period
For the first few months, test the way your new schedules are working. To assure that compressed workweeks and flextime are successful, monitor the arrangements during the trail period, making adjustments as necessary.

Step 6: Evaluate and Improve
At the end of the trial period, evaluate the program in terms of your original objective for implementation. You may be measuring costs and benefits, customer satisfaction, employee effectiveness and/or impact on non-participating employees. Keep evaluating and fine-tuning.

These steps are based upon the recommendations at commuterchallenge.org

Related Flexible Work Policy Articles …

Family-Friendly Work Policies Take a Hit – Motherlode Blog …

Will the trend toward flexible working arrangements survive in the recession?

HR Daily Advisor – Practical Human Resource Tips, News & Advice …

Is a Flexible Work Policy Part of a Wellness Program? Most experts agree that reducing stress is an important part of wellness, but they don’t have much advice for how to accomplish it. Flexible work schedules will go a long way to …

Flexible Workpaces: Productive and Popular

We’ve recently discussed how, with the potentially rebounding economy, workers are going to expect more from their employees in 2010. Implementing a flexible work environment (or improving your company’s current telecommuting policy) is …

 

A survey of more than 2,700 hiring managers and human resources (HR) professionals has shown that flexible work arrangements is no.4 on their list of priorities in 2010.  As ever with one of these surveys you have to wonder how much of it is a nod to a company’s public relations but it does seem, from the list below, that business is getting a bit leaner and more focused post recession with a trimming of perks and a view to hiring freelancers.

The following is a list of the top methods that employers will use to preserve the health and growth of their businesses:

1. Replace Under-Performing Employees: Taking advantage of the large number of talented jobseekers currently looking for work, more than one-in-three (37 percent) employers plan to replace under-performing employees in 2010.

2. Use Social Media: Almost four-in-ten employers (37 percent) plan to emphasize social media in 2010, and one-in-five will add social media responsibilities to current employees.

3. Rehire Laid-off Workers: Among companies with lay-offs in 2009, almost one-third (32 percent) of those employers plan to bring back workers in 2010.

4. Provide Flexible Work Arrangements: More than one-in-three (35 percent) employers plan to provide more flexible work arrangements in 2010, including: alternate schedules (73 percent); telecommuting (41 percent); and compressed workweeks (32 percent).

5. Trim Perks and Benefits: Perks and benefits will be cut by 37 percent of employers in 2010, including: bonuses; medical coverage; and suspended 401k matching.

6. Rehire Retirees & Postpone Retirement: Over one-in-four employers (27 percent) will consider retaining workers approaching retirement in 2010, while nearly one-in-three (30 percent) have workers expressing interest in postponing retirement.

7. Hire Freelance & Contract Workers: Three-in-ten employers anticipate hiring freelancers or contractors in 2010.

8. Add Green Jobs: More than one-in-ten (11 percent) of employers plan to add “green jobs” in 2010 to improve conservation and sustainability.

9. Recruit Bilingual Workers: Nearly four-in-ten employers (39 percent) will hire bilingual candidates in 2010 and half will hire the bilingual candidate of two otherwise equally qualified candidates.

10. Reduce Business Travel: Over one-in-four employers (43 percent) plan to have less business travel in 2010 than in 2009.

 

Related Flexible Work Arrangements Articles…

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Related Resources…

Take Three Steps Closer to Telecommuting From Home

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Although American and British families can take some comfort in the recent reforms to flexible policies at work there seems to be a familiar rumble coming from business on both sides of the Atlantic.

Over the last week business groups have written to Yvette Cooper, the UK’s work and pensions secretary, warning against further legislation to force companies to accept flexible working requests.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) are concerned that a white paper, expected to be published this week, will outline more flexible working rules that would further burden companies, especially small ones.

Burden? What burden?

In January, the accounting giant KPMG, looking for a way to save payroll costs without losing valued employees, introduced an initiative called Flexible Futures. This new programme offered the 11,000 professionals in KPMG’s British operations the following options: They could go to a four-day workweek and take a 20 percent pay cut; they could opt for a mini-sabbatical at 30 percent base pay; they could opt for both of the above; or they could stick with their current arrangement.

The programme was hugely successful. Over 80 percent of KPMG’s professional employees (men and women) volunteered to take one of the flexible options. This allowed KPMG to achieve its goal of retaining jobs while cutting costs.

Because Flexible Futures positioned shorter workweeks and mini-sabbaticals as a strategic response to the downturn rather than a “benefit” for working mothers, it has gone some distance to legitimising flex time. Taking this option has become an honored choice — a way to save jobs. As a result, overloaded men as well as overloaded women have felt free to vary their schedules.

It’s all about the method of application. I’ve written before about fathers’ fear of asking for flexible hours because of the perceived worry it will be detrimental to their careers. But in these cash-poor days business needs to find a way to cut costs without cutting jobs and flexible policies work – they just need to pitch it right.

More Resources Showing Flexible Policies Work…

Simple policy tweak improves workers’ health, productivity …

Implementing flexible policies can add years to your employees’ lives, according to a three-year nationwide study released by the Work, Family and Health Network. The following findings for the study were compiled by eight …

S&C Chair Credits Flexible Policies for Women-Dominated …

Rodgin Cohen told the New York Law Journal that the high-percentage of women is due to policies such as flex-time and maternity leave that are designed to retain more women lawyers. “I think hopefully as we have more and more women …

Related Articles…

• UK government promoting work-life balance (americablog.com)
• Bosses told: make new jobs fit with family life (guardian.co.uk)
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There are many benefits to incorporating a telecommuting policy into most businesses, over 25% of companies have some level of telecommuting even if it’s just a ‘bad weather’ policy.

However, making sure that the correct policies and procedures are in place will save on a lot of hassle down the road – think about the following aspects to ensure your trouble free telecommuting edge:

1 – Infastructure
We’ve all wasted a few hours work by forgetting to backup and save our work, frustrating but not a crisis. However, if a significant amount of company work is done outside of the immediate office network then making sure you have a backup is essential.

There are 2 broad options that can ensure the proverbial doesn’t hit the fan – Cloud computing or a direct link to the company infastructure via broadband.

Linking directly to the company’s database has been the most popular over recent years allowing telecommuters to change or add data and then the main network is backed up automatically. Although effective it can sometimes be slow, especially if the employee lives in a slow broadband area, and therefore frustrating. There is also a increased risk of a viral infection hitting your extended network.

A cloud service has three distinct characteristics that differentiate it from traditional hosting. It is sold on demand, typically by the minute or the hour; it is elastic — a user can have as much or as little of a service as they want at any given time; and the service is fully managed by the provider (the consumer needs nothing but a personal computer and Internet access). Significant innovations in virtualization and distributed computing, as well as improved access to high-speed Internet and a weak economy, have accelerated interest in cloud computing.

2 – Security
If the most sensitive data that your company uses is the price you pay for widgets then you probably won’t get any pro hackers tapping in to your network but that data could still be very powerful in the wrong hands. A simple encryption and password protected system should be more than enough to protect most data but if you feel you need something stronger talk to a professional or take another look at cloud computing with high security as standard.

3 – Time or Results
One of the disadvantages of telecommuting, or advantage depending on your point of view, is that direct supervision of your workforce is not easily done. Depending on the tasks undertaken you should either pay telecommuters by time spent on a project or by results reached, given a stated level of quality. You may have a steep learning curve to realise the greatest bang for your buck but a well observed results experiment would be well advised at the start.

Other Telecommuting Policy Resources:

SmallBiz-Info: Establish a Telecommuting Policy

More than 25% of small businesses use telecommuting. And while there are clear benefits to telecommuting, it’s not necessarily right for every business. If you are thinking of establishing a telecommuting policy for your business, …

reasons to implement a telecommuting policy

telecommuting. being in the “web sphere” as it were, 3prime has the luxury of being accessible anywhere – at the office, from home, etc. b/c we have implemented a telecommuting policy that works for the …

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