The idea of telecommuting is an attractive one to most people. After all, most people like the idea of being able to work from home. It would cut back drastically on commute times, and you'd get to work in a comfortable and familiar environment. You could also work the particular hours that you wanted to work, rather than a standard nine to five. There are plenty of benefits of telecommuting, and there are a variety of telecommuting jobs to suit many different types of people.
Some people work from home for geographical reasons. It may be difficult for them to commute to work. For example, poor weather, poor public transport, and extreme distances can be one reason that someone may wish to work from home. Telecommuting means that these people can work from home using their telephone and internet to keep in touch with their clients or their employers.
Some telecommuting jobs include consulting jobs. This is where an individual provides their expertise in order to help out another company or individual. It is often possible to telecommute in a consulting position, as your clients will be mostly communicating with you via the telephone and email.
Other types of telecommuting jobs include data entry and secretarial type roles. These are often great for stay at home parents or for college students. Often the hours are flexible, meaning that you can work when the time suits you. These roles will usually involve typing in information about clients into a database. This is almost always done via the internet using an online database. However, some of these jobs may involve calling up clients and tracking down leads. These jobs will obviously require you to work certain hours.
Other popular telecommuting jobs include writing and editing jobs. The bulk of a writing or editing job is done by one individual, so it is not always necessary that they have to be based where the company is. Many freelance writers will choose to work from home rather than from an office. They can easily keep in touch with their clients via email and teleconferences where necessary. This means that they are easily contactable despite not working in the office.
Health reasons may be another reason that a person needs to work from home. They may be employed in one of the above areas, or they may be an existing employee of a company. In some instances, a company will allow an employee to work from home where necessary. This can help recovering employees, or new parents, continue to work in their current role without having to make their way into the office every morning. The sorts of jobs best suited to this are those that don't require much face to face contact, and that don't require any specialized equipment. Many white collar professionals will find that they may be able to perform at least some of the job in a telecommuting type of role. This can be beneficial if they need to stay at home to recuperate, or for whatever reason.