Telecommuting

shagzdan

Hi all,

I was made redundant in December and am looking for work.
At present I am prone to bouts of chronic agoraphobia and find it difficult to leave my house on occasion, but don't want to be put on the sick for my fears.

My Dr's suggested maybe working from home, so thought I'd wrack the brains of my fellows on here.

Anybody heard of telecommuting or where I can find a telecommuting job?

Before anybody slates me and says that I am "Lazy" , please read up on the condition and it's issues, as I have had some real negative feedback ref this in the past.:(

Thanks in advance.

agrinnall

I think telecommuting may be a good option for you, But you need to tell us what your previous job was and what skills you have so we can suggest suitable options - it's no use me suggesting you do the job that I do from home (university researcher) if you left school at 16 and have worked in retail ever since (as an example), but there may be other things that you could do.

Eliza_2

Telecommuting (or teleworking) is just another word for working from home. I work from home as a freelancer doing the same job as someone else working in an office. A friend works for BT as a project manager and all of her colleagues work from home, BT has set up her spare room as an office - quite funny watching her having a tele-conference with colleagues while sitting there in her dressing gown!!! BT are a big supporter of working at home and there are lots of other roles. Several call centres employ home workers too.

So it depends what your skills and preferences are really, telecommuting is just another way of doing what you might do at work. Have a look at the up your income thread, quite a lot of ideas on there. You don't see many advertised, could you ask any past employers if you can work from home for them on an as and when basis? Sometimes they go for that, especially if you register self employed rather than be employed by them, as that makes their life easier and cheaper. Check the rules for being self employed though. The other thing is if you see a job you like and think could be done from home, apply and suggest to the employer that this could work. I did this successfully in the past. Many however still think the only way to get people to work is to see them clock in and out and watch over them like a hawk.

Lots of pros but also lots of cons so think about your options carefully. Good luck.

[Deleted User]

All depends on what you do for your job. Work in IT and there's definitely jobs that let you work from home.

I've worked from home for 2 years now (IT consultant). At most I might need to travel to the office once a month.

room512

You could work as a chat moderator on an Online Bingo site. They work from home. It involves chatting to people, running side games and explaining rules, etc.

Eliza_2

Interesting article

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21588760