Telecommuting From Home Success Stories

October 7, 2008

Csmonitor.com devoted an entire article to telecommuting from home success stories. In the age of Blackberry, Skype, e-mail and instant messaging, it is becoming more common for businesses to allow employees to telecommute from home, or even the local coffee shop. I touched on this in my previous post about legitimate work at home jobs.

Exactly how many people are working in their PJs? WorldatWork, a national organization of HR professionals, says that around 28 million Americans are working from home at least one day per month, and that number could reach 100 million by 2010. Which jobs were included in these telecommuting from home success stories? Keep reading!

How does your salary compare to telecommuting from home success stories? Find out with the PayScale Salary Calculator. You can also use the PayScale Cost of Living Calculator to see how much you would need to make to maintain your current standard of living in a different city.

Top Companies for Telecommuting

One of the top companies for telecommuting from is Wasabi Publicity in Atlanta, GA. The CEO, Drew Gerber, supervises a public relations staff in seven different time zones. He tracks his employees’ work (e-mail and phone calls) via an online service. Gerber says, “I don’t have to be on the phone with them continuously saying, ‘Is this done, is that done?’ “

Do You Know What You're Worth?

Recommendations for Telecommuters and Bosses

Debra Dinnocenzo of Pittsburgh-based VirtualWorks says that most studies on telecommuting show an average increase of 30 percent in productivity. Elizabeth Anderson of E.H. Anderson Public Relations, based in Waco, Texas, told csmonitor.com: “I know it can work. You want to make your employees as happy as you make your customers. My business is not going to grow if my employees are not happy.”

Telecommuting Bookkeeping Work and More

Some of the more popular telecommute jobs mentioned by csmonitor.com include: bookkeeper, PR account executive, marketing director and customer service. Recent data in the PayScale Research Center has average salaries for various telecommuting jobs:

Sr. Software Engineer/Developer/Programmer – $92,352
Information Technology (IT) Manager – $89,178
Project Manager, IT – $83,720
Information Technology Consultant – $78,913
Regional Sales Manager – $74,755
Account Manager Sales – $59,866

Costs Versus Benefits of Telecommuting

Why is telecommuting becoming more popular with some companies? For a lot of reasons, says Richard Laermer, author of the book “2011” and a New York marketing consultant. Laermer cites the rising costs of commercial real estate, ever increasing gas prices, endless commutes and environmental concerns. Telecommuting can save businesses overhead costs, and employees gas and travel time.

Telecommuting Job Companies: The Future?

Laermer told csmonitor.com: “It is all going to be about telecommuting in two to three years. It’s going to be a huge change in the way things get done. Working at home is not only possible; it’s going to end up being better for the employee and the employer.” Hmmm, does this mean you should ask your boss if you can telecommute? It may depend on your boss’ age. Younger supervisors tend to be more willing to try, most likely because they grew up with the web, just as us oldsters were weaned on using the telephone.

Would you earn more if you worked for telecommuting job companies? The PayScale Salary Calculator is a quick and easy way to compare positions. When you want powerful salary data and comparisons customized for your exact position, be sure to build a complete profile by taking PayScale’s full salary survey.

Cheers,

Dr. Al Lee