If you already work from home or are doing everything you can to make telecommuting possible, you are far from alone. According to a new report from Global Workplace Analytics and FlexJobs, the number of work-from-home employees has increased 115 percent in a decade. More specifically, 3.9 million workers in the United States now work from home at least half of the time; this is up from 1.8 million in 2005.
Other interesting tidbits that emerged from the 2017 State of Telecommuting in the U.S. Employee Workforce report include: the average telecommuter is 46 or older, has at least a bachelor’s degree and earns a better salary than most in-office workers. Interestingly, around the same number of men and women telecommute, although specific types of at-home work seem to attract a far larger number of women.
As more and more people ditch the daily commute and set up home offices, a number of interesting trends have started to develop around the work from home crowd. For example, check out the following:
Direct Sales is Growing by Leaps and Bounds
When you were growing up, you may recall the neighborhood Avon lady coming by now and then to show makeup samples to your mom. Today, the direct sales industry is booming; there are around 16 million sales consultants in the United States alone, all working to sell a number of things including home items, health and beauty products, clothing and accessories and more. A great example of a direct sales platform that is helping more people than ever to work from home is Amway; as it notes on the company’s LinkedIn page, Amway makes and distributes more than 450 products that support health and well-being, and literally millions of people around the globe sell the company's top quality products from their home office. If you are looking to work in an industry that hires a huge number of women, direct sales is definitely the way to go — right now 82 percent of direct sales reps are female.
Working Remotely is More Widely Accepted
More and more public and private companies are showing an increased openness to the idea of their employees working remotely. From revising their telecommuting policies to coming up with more tasks and projects that people can complete from home, setting up a home office is quickly becoming a highly accepted way to work. A great example of this is newspapers; not that long ago, a traditional newspaper had a team of on-staff reporters in the newsroom who would tackle any number of stories and assignments. Now, a number of newspapers, especially smaller community-based publications, hire freelance writers to write at least a portion of their articles for each issue.
Online “Slack” Groups are Proliferating
While working from home has a large number of benefits — from saving money on gas and expensive work clothes to enjoying a flexible schedule, being able to volunteer at your kids’ schools and more — some people may miss working with others. As a result, a common trend is the development of more and more “slack” groups where entrepreneurs and remote workers can gather online to discuss ideas and projects. Slacklist has a huge number of groups that you may join, including #freelance, iOS Developers and WorkFromAnywhere.
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