What the Tech? Work from Home with FlexJobs
Are you kind of starting to like the working from home idea? Maybe you’ve recently lost your job and are looking for the next opportunity.
More than 44 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits over the past 3 months since the pandemic began and orders were issued to stay home.
One of the good things to come out of the pandemic is how some companies are now embracing the idea of employees working from home. And while many jobs have disappeared in the past 3 months, jobs that allow or even require employees to work from home are growing. Many believe it’s the new normal.
“What we’re hearing is that they plan to keep remote work on an ongoing basis,” said Brie Reynolds, the career development manager at Flex Jobs. “Whether that’s temporary for the next year or so, or just permanently as part of their business strategy.”
Flexjobs is a business and website ( www.flexjobs.com ) that lists thousands of jobs with flexible work schedules, hours and location. She tells me, companies that were hesitant at first are now discovering employees can get their jobs done, even from home in their pajamas. Now, trust in employees is not a factor.
“I think it’s largely because this experiment of remote work has worked really well for people,” said Reynolds. “They’ve found it is a productive way to work, even in the middle of a pandemic with all the added challenges that go along with that. They’re willing to keep it on for the long term.”
Reynolds and I were both working from our respective homes and meeting over Zoom which has in high use today as a tool that’s made it easier for teams to meet and work remotely.
Business and team meetings over Zoom are being held routinely. Zoom’s stock, which started out at around $54 now sits at around $230 a share at the time I write this.
Flexjobs lists thousands of openings for jobs in 50 categories. Browsing the site I found openings for attorneys, health care, teachers, engineers and office management. There are also jobs for people with skills in graphic design, advertising, marketing, IT and sales. Some of those jobs are with Fortune 500 companies and they’re not all temporary.
“I think that is one of those common misconceptions about remote work is that it’s mostly freelance or project based or part-time. The reality is, most of the roles we’re seeing are full-time employee types of roles that do offer benefits,” Reynolds said.
Those benefits for full-time staff jobs include paid vacations and health insurance.
Reynolds told me, she expects more companies to shift at least part of their workforce to positions with flexible hours and location. So if working from home appeals to you, there are jobs to be found.
Flexjobs requires a subscription to access all of the information for job openings. It’s currently offering a discount on those subscriptions. $15 a month or $50 for an entire year. Reynolds says the company understands people who’ve recently lost their jobs may not have the money for what it used to charge for subscriptions and the company wants to help them find new work.
