Five Reasons to Use Wireless Internet While Telecommuting

The excitement of working while still wearing pajamas can suddenly be yanked away when a grown-up realizes that sitting at one's home office in pajamas might not necessarily be the most helpful way to be spending days and days. Such is the cycle of telecommuting, when people realize what might have initially sounded great--setting one's own schedule, wearing whatever--can also feel as though one has been confined to a particular space. And this becomes even more true for those who haven't made the upgrade to wireless internet at home--or those who refuse to put on pants and go take advantage of Wi-Fi signal elsewhere. Here five crucial reasons to make that kind of step forward, rather than keeping odd hours for no particular reason.

#1 - It means that those who need some discipline to move to a different space can set up their own schedules. And this is a crucial part of being able to find work these days anyway, considering the fact that people are more interested in the ability of things to get done, not the space when those tasks are actually accomplished and the locale that gets them done. With wireless internet, being able to turn any space into a reliable workspace becomes possible, and it also might mean being able to take on more work, too.

#2 - There's no need to be stuck at a desk on nice sunny days. This is a major morale factor, and one that cannot be taken lightly. For those kinds of people who are sick of being trapped indoors all day long and who have decided to work remotely to have a breather from time to time, there is no finer way than with the chance to move outside for a couple of hours with the same connection.

#3 - Getting out of the house but still getting work done becomes feasible. Some people work well with wireless internet in crowded locales, while others would prefer to be more in control of their environment. Either way, both options become feasible with the wonder of actually being able to connect in a variety of different spots around the city or around the country. And even those who think this option isn't great for telecommuting might change opinions after having that kind of freedom a couple of different times.

#4 - Other people can still use the world wide web when they happen to be home at the same time. For those who are sharing households with those who aren't at the office or at school all of the time, this can be an important way to keep everyone happy and contented, rather than stressed about their computer time.

#5 - With speedier 4G connections, being mobile doesn't have to mean being stressed. Plenty of responsible telecommuters are more focused on the fact that they are going to be unable to complete particular assignments from locales where there is less than the best possible signal. But fortunately, these days the Wi-Fi can handle sending and receiving huge chunks of information, so if an entire report has to be uploaded or there is other work to be done, it becomes less of a nightmare and more of a task that can be accomplished.

View the original article here

The Environmental Benefits of Telecommuting

Nowadays, more and more companies are supporting what I like to call the "work-from-home" movement. Major corporations are flirting with the idea that working from home not only boosts productivity of their employees, but also has a huge impact on the environment. Working from home can dramatically decrease your carbon footprint, as well as give you extra time to spend on personal matters or fitting a bitmore work in.

Companies such as Sun Microsystems were one of the pioneers of this movement, having supported what it likes to call "Open Work" services for their employees for about 17 years now. Nowadays, over 11,000 of Sun's 19,000 employees are taking advantage of this program.

Some quick facts

Each employee saves approximately $1,500 per year on gas from commuting alone, all the while saving nearly 3 weeks of time wasted on commutingEach employee also reduces their energy consumption by 5,400 kW hours per yearThis program only took 24 months to implement, an impressive feat for a company of Sun's size

In the past few years, more and more companies have been adopting a similar work-from-home policy. Another good example being Cisco systems, who found similar benefits to their employee's productivity and work/life balance. An in-depth study conducted by Cisco with a group of 1,992 employees in the summer of 2009 found that the average employee telecommutes on average 2 days per week. 60% of the time saved on commuting is spent working, and the remaining 40% is spent on personal time. As a result, that year Cisco estimated it saved $227 million in productivity, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions being released into the environment as a result of commuting by 47,320 metric tons.

Working form home is made much easier due to services like GoToMeeting and Polycom, the "in-person meeting" is becoming a thing of the past. You can be anywhere, so long as you have internet access, a microphone and / or a video camera, and be able to conduct a meeting. As a freelance web developer, I find I just as affective to conduct meetings over these types of software than it is meeting in person, given my client's (and my own) busy schedules.

Thought for the day

There's really no downside to telecommuting. Why not talk to your employer about the possibility of telecommuting a few days of the week?

View the original article here