THE CHALLENGES of Working from Home Story by Cindy Reid
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s many employers expanded the use of telework, the percentage of employed people working at home has nearly doubled, rising from 22 percent in 2019 to 42 percent in 2020. The percentage of employed people who worked at their workplace fell from 81 percent in 2019 to 63 percent in 2020. Both men and women were more likely to work at home in 2020 compared with 2019. The share of employed men who worked at home increased by 16 percentage points from 2019, and the share of employed women increased by 23 percentage points. As a result, about onethird of employed men and nearly onehalf of employed women worked at home on days worked in 2020. (www.bls.gov/ Bureau of Labor Statistics) The trend towards remote, and workfrom-home, employment was already happening before the pandemic but in 2020 the trend abruptly became a reality for millions of workers as offices all over the world shut their doors and employees created home offices on their dining rooms tables. It appears that this temporary measure has become permanent for many workers, either through their employer or because their work could not be sustained at home, leading to self-employment and entrepreneurship, both of which are often home-based. CATEGORIES OF WORK-FROM-HOME EMPLOYEES Working from home is here to stay and overwhelmingly the numbers reflect that women make up the bulk of the remote workforce. But not all work-from-home is the same. Here are a few key categories: Flex Employee You are a direct employee of the business, and your position may well have been “in office” before the pandemic. You work from home some days and come into your employer's business on set days or for meetings. You live within proximity of the employer as you may be in the office once or twice every week, or even alternating weeks. Remote You are employed by a company, but you will never need to come to an office. Since you are part of a team, you often have a set working schedule. Software developers, computer programmers, customer service reps, copywriters, and virtual assistants are often remote
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www.PoolerMagazine.com | March/April 2022
