Working From Home And The Companies Hiring

I think that at one time or another, we have all dreamed of being able to sit around in our pajamas working from home.

While the allure of this is certainly entertaining, there some considerations that most do not account for before jumping into the lake to find out that the water is cold.

If you are set on working from home, here are some considerations to think about before taking the plunge.

1) You work where you live and vs versa.

Being able to roll out of bed, stagger over to your desk sure seems like a good dream, but there is a physiological effect that will start to set in within in a couple of months. The feeling of being trapped, not being able to get away from work can leave you feeling numb, causing the glorious productivity that you dreamed about to plummet like a meteorite from the sky.

For this, I’ve always recommended to everyone that has ask me about working from home to set up a schedule for yourself. Sticking to that schedule is also very important if you want to succeed at working from home.

Scheduling yourself to eat right is one of the most important schedules that you will have to hold yourself to. While the kitchen is only mere feet away from where you work, getting there and actually eating is a whole new subject in it’s self.

Scheduling yourself to get out of the house is another very important consideration to take into account and I don’t mean going down the street to the local bar. Save that for the days that you are off work. What I am referring to is getting out of the house to go walk.

Walking does wonders to clear your mind and your body will thank you later for it when your intensely sitting in your chair trying to crank-out the last days report to submit before the five o’clock deadline.

2) Your friends and all the rest of your social network will be on the decline.

Your friends are going to think that you’re to good for them or that you have been abducted by aliens.

Being set to the rigors of getting up and getting ready to run out the door, fight traffic to get to work on time has programmed you to the company clock. In the back of your mind, you know that you can socialize with co-workers during the day and go to the pub for a quick after work drink – or three – before fighting traffic to get home.

Setting a socialize time in your daily schedule is going to be something that is going to be important in the lone run and something that most do not think about.

3) The normal stopping at the market for grocery shopping is going to change too.

One of the last things that one thinks about is food. We are again set on the company clock until you hit the frig in the middle of the day for lunch to discover you haven’t been to the market for a week.

On your scheduled day off work, while tempted to go hang out with friends, you are going to have to force yourself to the market for the weeks food. This is going to be an important part of your schedule as you are going to be tied-up with the rest of your schedule during the week.

With all of this in mind, lets dive into the statistics and the opportunities that are out there.

According to a report from the Society for Human Resources Management, 69% of organizations allow employees to work from home at least some of the time in 2019, more than three times the share of companies who allowed telecommuting 20 years ago.

Many remote workers are highly compensated – nearly a quarter earn $100,000 or more – and they tend to be happier in their jobs. A combination of factors, including improved worker satisfaction, greater productivity and more efficient use of company resources are some reasons why the ability to work from just about anywhere is one of the biggest workplace trends to watch for in 2020 and beyond.

To determine which employers are leading the charge in this space, FlexJobs identified the best companies to work for to land a work-from-home job.

The job listing site analyzed its database of over 54,000 companies and identified the ones that posted the highest number of remote jobs in 2019, suggesting they’ll continue to hire a large amount of remote workers in the new year. Jobs on the site can be advertised as being either part-time or full-time remote work arrangement.

The No. 1 company hiring for remote workers is Appen, an Australian technology company that helps organizations develop machine learning and artificial intelligence products. While four of the top 20 companies on the list are international, the majority of companies are based in the U.S. and are largely concentrated in areas around Arizona – such as No. 4 Liveops, and California – such as No. 10 Williams-Sonoma).

Many roles within health care, computer and IT organizations can be done remotely, and these fields are well represented among the top companies filling remote jobs. These are also some of the largest and fastest-growing industries in the U.S., where demand and pay are strong, especially in today’s tight labor market.

Education companies also grew their remote workforce in the past year: Two e-learning companies, VIPKid and EF Education First, cracked the top 10.

According to FlexJobs, the most common job titles for remote workers are accountant, customer service representative, project manager, nurse and writer.

Global companies and those headquartered in high cost-of-living areas may be able to expand their talent pool by considering applicants who live in other parts of the country, and even the world.

People who do their jobs from home, freelance or travel for work are increasingly leaving cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco and taking their families — and jobs — to places including Denver and Boise, Idaho, according to The Wall Street Journal.

So if you think you are still ready to take the plunge, here is a list of 20 companies that are on the fast track to hire more remote workers in 2020.

  1. Appen
    Headquarters: Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia
    Industry: Technology (machine learning and artificial intelligence)
    Remote jobs: voice coach, linguist, web search evaluator, transcriber
  2. Lionbridge
    Headquarters: Waltham, Massachusetts
    Industry: Software and business (language translation)
    Remote jobs: creative designer, social media assessor, project manager, scheduling assistant
  3. VIPKid
    Headquarters: Beijing, China
    Industry: Education
    Remote jobs: online English as a second language teacher
  4. Liveops
    Headquarters: Scottsdale, Arizona
    Industry: Customer service
    Remote jobs: customer service representative, licensed insurance agent, health care resource specialist
  5. Working Solutions
    Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
    Industry: Customer service
    Remote jobs: sales development representative, travel reservation specialist, corporate travel agent
  6. Kelly Services
    Headquarters: Troy, Michigan
    Industry: Staffing
    Remote jobs: data entry operator, administrative assistant, software tester, data analyst
  7. EF Education First
    Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts
    Industry: Education
    Remote jobs: language teacher, copywriter, content writer, college counselor, IT coordinator
  8. SYKES
    Headquarters: Tampa, Florida
    Industry: Customer service
    Remote jobs: customer support agent, executive assistant, senior director of client management
  9. Concentrix
    Headquarters: Fremont, California
    Industry: Business services
    Remote jobs: sales and service representative
  10. Williams-Sonoma
    Headquarters: San Francisco, California
    Industry: Retail
    Remote jobs: customer service agent, technical designer, copy manager
  11. UnitedHealth Group
    Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota
    Industry: Health care
    Remote jobs: product director, medical director, health and wellness coach, call center nurse
  12. LanguageLine Solutions
    Headquarters: Monterey, California
    Industry: Translation
    Remote jobs: interpreter, software engineer
  13. TTEC
    Headquarters: Englewood, Colorado
    Industry: Business operations
    Remote jobs: Salesforce developer, software engineer, consultant, web developer
  14. TranscribeMe
    Headquarters: San Francisco, California
    Industry: Information technology, translation
    Remote jobs: transcriptionist
  15. Humana
    Headquarters: Louisville, Kentucky
    Industry: Health care
    Remote jobs: sales manager, medical director, business and technology lead, sales executive
  16. Cactus Communications
    Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
    Industry: Communications
    Remote jobs: editor, medical writer, academic research evaluation
  17. Transcom
    Headquarters: Stockholm, Uppland, Sweden
    Industry: Customer service
    Remote jobs: technical support representative, payroll administrator, customer service agent
  18. BroadPath Healthcare Solutions
    Headquarters: Tucson, Arizona
    Industry: Health care
    Remote jobs: director of service operations, provider service representative, insurance claims processor, data specialist
  19. Dell
    Headquarters: Round Rock, Texas
    Industry: Computer technology
    Remote jobs: program manager, account executive, consultant, sales executive
  20. Aetna
    Headquarters: Hartford, Connecticut
    Industry: Health care
    Remote jobs: outreach coordinator, content quality reviewer, network relations manager, health coach