Remote Employees Work from Home Challenges and Issues

Running Head: REMOTE EMPLOYEES WORK AT HOME ENVIRONMENT

Remote Employees Work from Home Challenges and Issues
Gregory L. Flanders Jr.
University of Phoenix
Professor Mr. Ed Ruppel Remote Employees Work from Home Challenges and Issues The workplace today goes beyond just the walls and ceilings that surround an office environment or office building. According to the International Telework Association and Council, 44.4 million Americans worked from home at least part of the time in 2004, up 7.5% from just on year earlier (Earthweb, 2005). Though it may be very convenient to work from home, the choice can bring its own set of problems. There are financial reasons, efficiencies, and even managing time are just a few to name that bring about many challenges and issues that any remote employee would face in that type of work environment.
Financial Issues for Work at Home Employees If you work from home as a contractor there are some important financial issues that you should look into and will face. Health Insurance is very important and have good health insurance is every of greater importance. If the company doesn’t offer health insurance purchase your own to cover you and/or family. Retirement is very important when you stop working in this society. You have to have money to live off of so save up and take maximum advantage of tax deductible IRA contributions that you make every year and set up a retirement program. There is many other financial road blocks that may occur that remote employees may not be aware and need to know all there is to know. A financial planner, tax and/or accounting professional can advise and guide you on the financial impact of your future and work at home environment. These trained professionals can help to set up a program to help keep track of expenses and structuring your life and business in such a way that you pay as little tax as legally possible, while keeping an eye our for your future (Work-at-home-contract-jobs, 2004). Tax, financial and retirement can go a long way toward a secure future with your work at home schedule. We should always educate ourselves and structure our lives for the best.
Bringing Efficiency to Work Home Environment
Home environment is not always easy to work and requires discipline, organization, and time which are very difficult to balance when working from home. If you have another room that is separate from the main house or upstairs as your office is an advantage to you and your family because you family knows that when you are in that particular office or room that you have designated time to work and they are not to bother you during that time. Time management while working from home is as important as your having an earmarked office space. It requires scheduling your hours of work in a manner that you can attend to your work without being disturbed. (When you work from home, 2007) You must convey to your family and yourself the personal time you need when working. There are some standard rules that could apply to your everyday work home environment. You need to convey to your family your office hours as well as friends and family, turn on the answering machine during office hours, or select email as an alternate, and understanding that just because you work from home doesn’t mean you are always available. Being self-employed is a tough job. Working from home is even tougher. But this does not necessitate that you put your family life at stake. The art of balancing your work and family life, even when working from home, is a simple task and easily learned if you are inclined to. (Lifehack, 2007)
Management of Work at Home Employees
A manager of someone who manages remote employees who work from home is critical when supervising remote workers. Setting goals can help ensure projects stay on track that the remote employee are really working and doing what is expected of them. As a supervisor a key advantage of monitors and knows what your remote employee is doing is to have extensive documentation to help see concerns or problems with and individual’s off-site work. Since many IT initiatives place a heavy emphasis on timeless, budgets, and end-results, these factors can easily serve as the basis for performance standards. (Effectively Managing Remote Workers, 2005). Perhaps the greatest challenge in managing and dealing with remote workers is communications aspect of the work environment. As a manager communication can be minimized by encouraging yourself as the manager and the remote employee to engage in discussions with a group setting and share news about work and scheduled deadlines. Managers should encourage remote workers to visit the office on a regular basis and suggest that off-site employees stop in periodically and get some valuable face time with colleagues and the manager also. As a manager maximum benefits can be achieved from making and remote workers aware of what is outlined in the guidelines as a remote worker.
Technologies Needed to Support Remote Workers Large-scale telecommuting programs that require IT to provide remote support to hundreds or thousands of remote workers create big challenges that aren't likely to get easier with the proliferation of new telecom technologies and increasing network security threats. To ensure a successful telecommuting program, enterprises should develop a clear and comprehensive remote support strategy that defines the different levels of IT support that will be provided to different kinds of telecommuting employees. Other best practices include a formal, written telecommuting policy; standardization of supported technologies; a telecommuting lab; remote worker training; and a self-help telecommuting reference manual. (Brownlee, 2004, para1)
Conclusion
Successful home-workers are master schedulers. They find creative ways to juggle their work, household, and family activities by effectively integrating or compartmentalizing them. The importance of considering their family in this juggling act is vital to the process of establishing boundaries and gaining the respect of others. Of course, you must consider yourself first and foremost in this process. Under what kind of schedule do you work best? Regardless of the schedule you choose, most home-workers have a morning and evening ritual to start and end their workday. These rituals replace the "commute" between home and work, often cited as a useful interlude among people working outside the home. Rituals not only spark motivation, but they also serve as ways to relax or manage stress. References
Work at Home Articles for Work at Home Warriors, (2004). Financial Issues for Work at Home Warriors. Retrieved March 3, 2008, from http://www.work-at-home-contract-jobs.com/financial-contract-issues.htm
Work at Home Challenges (2008). Managing Your Schedule Wisely. Retrieved March 3, 2008 from http://www.score.org/on_19.html
Brining More Efficiency When You Work From Home (2005). Lifehack.org. Retrieved March 3, 2008 from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/bringing-more-efficiency-when-you-work-from-home.
Brownlee, T. (2004). A Clear Strategy Will Help IT Effectively Support Remote Workers Retrieved Marc 3, 2008 from http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,35237,00.html