Undress For Success
by TomUndress For Success
For thousands of people, a work-at-home job, freelance career, or home business is their road to freedom, control, and happiness. But what kind of work is available? And, how do you separate the real opportunities from the thousands of bogus work-at-home scams that dominate the Internet?
Undress for Success offers honest, real-world information on home-based jobs, businesses, and careers that can change your life. Based on the authors’ three decades of experience working from home, this comprehensive guide explores and explains everything you need to know to about how to simplify your life with a work-at-home job or business. It’s the perfect guide for anyone who’s sick of the office lifestyle and ready for a change. This practical step-by-step guide details the who, what, why, and how of working from home: the advantages and disadvantages, the skills and traits you’ll need to succeed, and how to avoid losing your shirt as you undress for success.
This have-it-your-way handbook is crammed with proven approaches for earning a living at home. If you’re an employee, you’ll discover how to successfully pitch a work-at-home program to your boss or find a new employer who loves the idea. If you want to freelance, Undress For Success offers a guide for how to find, price and get paid for your work. And if you want to run a home business, it reveals the motivations, talents, and resources you’ll need to get started; it identifies best-bet home businesses; and it offers true stories about what it’s like to work where you sleep. If you’re an employer or government leader, you’ll find a fascinating look at how at-home workers are more productive, help reduce traffic, and even slow global warming.
This book offers work-at-home hope for everyone from high school grads to PhD’s, secretaries to programmers, Gen Y’ers to Baby Boomers. From interviews with people who work at home you’ll learn about the techniques, technologies, and strategies that make them successful. Undress for Success is the ultimate guide for making the road less traveled your way to work.
Foreword by Jack Nilles, The Grandfather of Telework and author of Internationally-acclaimed Managing Telework – Strategies For Managing the Virtual Workplace
Review Copy Request
by TomReview Copy Request
Our book on telecommuting, Undress For Success – The Naked Truth About Working at Home, will be in bookstores in March of 2009. If you have an active blog, web site, newsletter, or other audience with an interest in the work-life, economic, environmental, and other benefits of working at home and would like to be considered for a review copy of the book, please fill out the form below and we’ll forward your name to our publisher (John Wiley & Sons). Copies will be distributed in March of 2009. If you represent a publication with a long lead time and would like an advance copy of the book, please email us with details about your needs.
In the interest of saving trees, we are encouraging the publisher to send review copies as a PDF, rather than a hardback book, to those who prefer that format. Let us know your preference on the form below, but please include a snail-mail address as well.
Click here to find out more about Undress For Success. Early reviews, based on a sloppy draft of the book, include praise from some of the top names in the industry:
. . . Kate Lister and Tom Harnish have been there. They are practicing entrepreneurs. They know the problems, the terrors and joys of making their own future. The issues, the possibilities, the hazards, practical rules of operation and a wealth of options and how-tos are here for you to explore. . . .
– Jack Nilles, president of JALA International and author of Managing Telework – Strategies for Managing the Virtual Office, the book that inspired nations to rethink the way to work (from the foreword for Undress For Success).
The best collection of teleworking “How-To’s” and “Why’s” that I’ve seen anywhere . . . .
– Jim Ware, Co-Founder, Future of Work Program and lead author for The Search for Digital Excellence (McGraw-Hill, 1998). . . This unique and enlightening guide will help you open the door to e-work success – and improve every aspect of your life in the process.
-Marcia Rhodes, Public Relations Director, WorldatWork. . . There’s never been a comprehensive guide to all aspects of telecommuting, until Undress for Success. . . .
-Cali Williams Yost, Fast Company expert and author, Work+Life Fit (Riverhead/Penguin Group, 2005). . . Undress For Success offers the perfect balance between covering all the details and doing so in an easy-to-read and light-hearted way. . . .
– Bob Fortier, President of InnoVisions Canada, and of The Canadian Telework Association. . . Kate and Tom are the guiding hands’ for self-reliant control of your future success from home! . . .
– Jack Heacock, SVP and Co-Founder of The Telework Coalition, Washington, D.C.
Privacy Notice: We swear to the gods of chocolate that we won’t sell your email address to anyone! If at any time you prefer to stop receiving email from us, just reply to this email with the word “unsubscribe” in the subject line or drop a note to unsubscribe (at) undress4success (dot) com and we’ll reluctantly bid you farewell. Please be sure to send your email from the address you want unsubscribed.
Telework Savings Potential
by TomTelework Savings Potential
Telecommuting Could Save U.S. Over $700 Billion a Year and Much More
Reporters On Assignment: If you need additional details or would like us to do a custom calculation for your region, email kate-at-globalworkplaceanalytics.com. Please let us know what organization you represent and your deadline. Or call us at 760-703-0377 (Pacific Coast time).
We have developed a number of complex models to estimate the bottom line impact of telework and other emerging workplace strategies. The assumptions behind our models have been culled from:
- Our synthesis of over a thousand documents on telework and related topics
- Interviews we’ve conducted with leading U.S. and global employers and their employees, the telework advocates and naysayers, the top researchers, and leaders of successful telework advocacy programs
- Our own work with public and private sector employers
- Venture capitalists who have invested in the remote work model
Our standard and custom Telework Savings Calculators™ have been used by company and community leaders throughout the U.S. and Canada to quantify the extent to which telecommuting can save money, improve work-life balance, increase employee loyalty and turnover, reduce absenteeism, increase productivity, reduce greenhouse gases and petroleum usage, and reduce highway congestion and traffic accidents. Our research has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Washington Post, and dozens of other publications.
So, what could U.S. companies and communities save through widespread telework?
According to the Telework Savings Calculator™, if those employees who held telework-compatible jobs (50% of the workforce) and wanted to work at home (79% of the workforce) did so just half of the time (roughly the national average for those who do), the economic benefit would total over $700 billion a year: Businesses would:
- Save over $500 billion a year in real estate, electricity, absenteeism, and turnover and productivity, that’s more than $11,000 per employee per year.
- Increase national productivity by 5 million man-years or $270 billion worth of work.
- Additionally save on utilities, janitorial services, security, maintenance, paper goods, coffee and water service, leased parking spaces, transit subsidies, ADA compliance, environmental penalties, equipment, furniture, and office supplies.
- Gain back the equivalent of 2-3 weeks worth of free time per year – time they’d have otherwise spent commuting.
- Save between $2,000 and $7,000 in transportation and work-related costs. In addition, some would also be able to cut after-school and eldercare costs. Many would also qualify for home office tax breaks.
- Save $20 billion at the pumps
- Reduce greenhouse gases by 54 million tons – the equivalent of taking almost 10 million cars (the entire New York State workforce) off the road for a year
- Reduce wear and tear on our highways by over 119 billion miles a year saving communities hundreds of millions in highway maintenance.
- Save almost 90,000 people from traffic-related injury or death. Accident-related costs would be reduced by over $10 billion a year.
- Save over 640 million barrels of oil (37% of Persian Gulf imports) valued at over $64 billion
Our proprietary Telework Savings Calculator™ quantifies the existing and potential telework savings for every city, state, county, and region in the country. Our Custom Workplace Savings Model™, which includes over 60 customizable variables, allows us to estimate the return on investment of a variety of workplace strategies – including telework, office hoteling, desk sharing, and workplace flexibility – for public and private sector employers. While that model is only available to our clients, a lite version is available free. Details about the assumptions behind our Telework Savings Calculator and an in depth analysis of telework in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, download our free white papers. You may also be interested in the following web pages:
- An extensive summary of the Pros and Cons of telework
- The Costs and Benefits of Telework
- The Latest Telecommuting Statistics
- A discussion about why it’s so hard to estimate How Many People Telecommute
Telework Offers Something for Everyone:
- Environmentalists applaud telecommuting because it significantly reduces greenhouse gases and energy usage.
- Astute company owners support telecommuting because of the cost savings and increased productivity.
- Work-life experts endorse telecommuting because it addresses the needs of families, parents, and senior caregivers.
- Workforce planners see telecommuting as away to avoid the ‘brain drain’ effect of retiring boomers.
- Human resource professionals see telecommuting as a way to recruit and retain the best people.
- Employees see telecommuting as a way to save time and money, and improve the quality of their lives.
- Baby Boomers find telecommuting offers a flexible alternative to full retirement.
- Gen Y’ers see telecommuting as a way to work on their own terms.
- Disabled workers, rural residents, and military families find home-based work an answer to their special needs.
- Urban planners realize telecommuting can reduce traffic and revitalize cities.
- Governments see telecommuting as a way to reduce highway wear and tear and alleviate the strain on our crumbling transportation infrastructure.
- Organizations rely on telecommuting to ensure continuity of operations in the event of a disaster or pandemic–all federal workers are required to telecommute to the maximum extent possible for just this reason.
To read more about how to go carbon neutral visit TreeHugger.com. To purchase Carbon Offset Credits visit CarbonFund.org or TerraPass.com.
Pros and Cons
by TomPros and Cons
Agile work programs would increase GNP, reduce the national debt, and bring the balance of trade back in our favor. It would substantially reduce our Gulf Oil dependence. It would reduce traffic jams and the carnage on our highways. It would alleviate the strain on our crumbling transportation infrastructure. It would help reclaim many of the jobs that have been lost to offshoring, and provide new employment opportunities for at-home caregivers, the disabled, and the un- and under-employed. It would improve family life, and emancipate latchkey kids. It would substantially bolster pandemic and disaster preparedness. It would reduce global warming. And it would save companies and individuals billions of dollars.
While we recognize that there are some very real inhibitors that need to be overcome – management mistrust, worker isolation, data security, and concerns about career impact – the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Based on our synthesis of over 4,000 studies, interviews with dozens of telework enthusiasts and naysayers, researchers, venture capitalists who invest in the remote work model, Fortune 500 executives, virtual employers, and dozens of home-based workers in wide variety of professions, here’s why we need to make the road less traveled the way to work.
Advantages of Telecommuting For the Community *
Telecommuting reduces our foreign oil dependence
- Half-time telework (roughly the national average among those who already do) by those with compatible jobs and a desire to work from home could reduce Gulf Oil imports by 45%.
- Saves 281 million barrels of oil worth $22 billion in oil imports.
Telecommuting slows global warming
- Half-time telecommuting could reduce carbon emissions by over 51 million metric tons a year – the equivalent of taking all of New York’s commuters off the road.
- Additional carbon footprint savings will come from reduced: office energy, roadway repairs, urban heating, office construction, business travel, paper usage (as electronic documents replace paper).
Telecommuting bolsters pandemic and disaster preparedness
- Three-quarters of teleworkers say they could continue to work in the event of a disaster compared with just 28% of non-teleworkers.
- A decentralized workforce means there is no World Trade Center or Pentagon-like target to attack. If an attack does occur, fewer people will be effected, economic stability will be maintained, and continuity of operations is assured.
Telecommuting redistributes wealth
- Location-independent job opportunities offer better employment options to rural workers.
National productivity would increase $334 billion to $467 billion a year through telecommuting
- Studies and empirical evidence shows productivity increases between 15 and 55%. Based on the average teleworker salary, the increase in productivity would add up to over six million man-years of work.
- Cost savings from telecommuting will encourage home-shoring and bring back many of the jobs that have been lost to foreign labor.
Telecommuting reduces traffic jams
- If traffic continues to grow at the current pace, over the next couple of decades drivers in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Portland, San Francisco-Oakland, Seattle-Tacoma, and Washington, D.C. will be sitting in daily traffic jams worse than the infamous traffic jams that plague Los Angeles eight hours a day.
- As a result, commutes will take almost twice as long and you’ll have to leave even earlier to allow for traffic jams if you have to arrive someplace at a specific time, producing a further reduction to our national productivity.
- Traffic jams rob the U.S. economy of $78 billion/year in productivity.
- Traffic jams idle away almost three billion gallons of gas and accounts for 26 million extra tons of greenhouse gases.
- Every 1% reduction in vehicles yields a three-fold decrease in congestion.
Telecommuting prevents traffic accidents
- Half-time telework for the 50 million Americans with compatible jobs and a desire to work from home at least part of the time would save 1,500 lives, prevent almost 95,000 traffic-related injuries and deaths, and save over $11 billion a year in related costs.
Telecommuting takes the pressure off our crumbling transportation infrastructure
- New roads are being built to meet needs of ten to twenty years ago. Less than 6% of our cities’ road construction has kept pace with demand over the past decade.
- By 2025 we’ll need another 104,000 additional lane miles – that will cost $530 billion – money the cities just don’t have.
- Half-time telework would reduce road wear and tear by 112 billion miles a year.
Advantages of Telecommuting For Companies *
Telecommuting improves employee satisfaction
- People are sick of the rat-race, eager to take control of their lives, and desperate to find a balance between work and life.
- 79% of people want to work from home.
- 36% would choose it over a pay raise.
- A poll of 1,500 technology professionals revealed that 37% would take a pay cut of 10% if they could work from home.
- Gen Y’ers are more difficult to recruit (as reported by 56% of hiring managers) and to retain (as reported by 64% of hiring managers), but they are particularly attracted to flexible work arrangements (ranked as 8 on a 10-point scale for impact on overall job satisfaction).
- 80% of employees consider telework a job perk.
Telecommuting reduces attrition
- The cost of replacing an employee extends far beyond the recruiting process. It includes separation costs, temporary replacement costs, and lost productivity training costs, and frequently lost customers, co-workers, and corporate intelligence. Studies put the cost as high as 75% of non-exempt person’s earnings, and 150-200% of an exempt person’s salary.
- 61% of employees who do not currently work from home say they are willing to give up some pay in exchange for being allowed to do so.
- 68% of participants in Shering-Plough Corporation’s telework program, which dates back to 1999, say that being able to telework is a factor in their decision to stay with the company
- 14% of Americans have changed jobs in order to shorten the commute.
- 46% of companies that allow telecommuting say it has reduced attrition.
- 72% of employers say telework has a high impact on employee retention.
- Almost half of employees feel their commute is getting worse; 70% of them feel their employers should take the lead in helping them solve the problem.
- 92% of employees are concerned with the high cost of fuel and 80% of them specifically cite the cost of commuting to work. 73% feel their employers should take the lead in helping them reduce their commuting costs.
- Two-thirds of employees would take another job to ease the commute.
Telecommuting reduces unscheduled absences
- 78% of employees who call in sick, really aren’t. They do so because of family issues, personal needs, and stress.
- Unscheduled absences cost employers $1,800/employee/year; that adds up to $300 billion/year for U.S. companies.
- Telecommuting programs reduce unscheduled absences by 63%.
- Telecommuters typically continue to work when they’re sick (without infecting others).
- The cost of replacing an employee extends far beyond the recruiting process. It includes separation costs, temporary replacement costs, and lost productivity training costs, and frequently lost customers, co-workers, and corporate intelligence. Telecommuters return to work more quickly following surgery or medical issues.
- Flexible hours allow telecommuters to run errands or schedule appointments without losing a full day.
Telecommuting increases productivity
- Best Buy, British Telecom, Dow Chemical and many others show that teleworkers are 35-40% more productive.
- Businesses lose $600 billion a year in workplace distractions.
- Over two-thirds of employers report increased productivity among their telecommuters.
- Sun Microsystems’ experience suggests that employees spend 60% of the commuting time they save performing work for the company.
- AT&T workers work five more hours at home than their office workers.
- JD Edwards teleworkers are 20-25% more productive than their office counterparts.
- American Express workers produced 43% more than their office based counterpoints.
- Compaq increased productivity 15-45%.
Telecommuting saves employers money
- Our own Telework Savings Calculator shows that if the Americans who hold work-at-home compatible jobs did so just half of the time, U.S. companies could collectively increase their bottom lines between $525 and $665 billion/year as a result of savings in real estate, absenteeism, turnover, and increased productivity. That’s between $10,400 and $13,200/employee/year. Full-time telecommuting can save companies between $20,000 and $37,000/employee/year.
- Nearly six out of ten employers identify cost savings as a significant benefit to telecommuting.
- Alpine Access Remote Agents closed 30% more sales than traditional agents the year before. Customer complaints decreased by 90%. And turnover decreased by 88%.
- IBM slashed real estate costs by $50 million through telework.
- McKesson’s telecommuting program saves $2 million a year.
- Mindwave Research, a 21-person marketing research company, saves over $11,000 by allowing half of its staff to work from home full-time.
- Nortel estimates that they save $100,000 per employee they don’t have to relocate.
- Partial telework can offer real estate savings by instituting an office hoteling program.
- Dow Chemical and Nortel save over 30% on non-real estate costs.
- Sun Microsystems saves $68 million a year in real estate costs.
- ADA compliance for disabled workers is easy if you let them telecommute.
- Brick and mortar costs can be reduced in industries where regulations or needs require local workers (e.g. healthcare, e-tail, etc.).
- Telecommuting Equalizes personalities and reduces potential for discrimination.
- Hiring sight unseen, as some all-virtual employers do, greatly reduces the potential for discrimination.
- It ensures that people are judged by what they do versus what they look like.
- Communications via focus groups, instant messaging, and the like equalizes personalities. No longer is the loudest voice the one that’s heard.
Telecommuting cuts down on wasted meetings
- Asynchronous communications allow people to communicate more efficiently.
- Web-based meetings are better planned and more apt to stay on message.
Telecommuting increases employee empowerment
- Remote work forces people to be more independent and self-directed.
Telecommuting increases collaboration
- Once telework technologies are in place, employees and contractors can work together without regard to logistics. This substantially increases collaboration options.
Telecommuting provides new employment opportunities for the un- and under-employed
- 18 million Americans with some college education aren’t working.
- More than 12% of the working age population are disabled (16 million). A full three-quarters of unemployed workers with disabilities cite discrimination in the workplace and lack of transportation as major factors that prevent them from working.
- 24 million Americans work part-time.
- Only seventy-five percent of women, still the traditional primary caregivers age twenty-five to fifty-four, participate in the labor force (compared to ninety percent of men). Almost a quarter of women work part-time (16.5 million), compared to 10% of men.
Telecommuting expands the talent pool
- Over 40% of employers are feeling the labor pinch; that will worsen as Boomers retire.
- Geography doesn’t limit access to available workers.
- Disabled workers are not faced with travel complications.
- Caregivers may continue to work.
- Employees with geographic, socioeconomic, and cultural diversity can positively impact company culture.
- Over 70% of employees report that the ability telecommute will be somewhat to extremely important in choosing their next job.
Telecommuting slows the brain drain due to retiring Boomers
- 75% of retirees want to continue to work – but they want the flexibility to enjoy their retirement.
- 36% of retirees say the ability to work part- rather than full-time or to work from home would have encouraged them to keep working – even if it the arrangement didn’t provide health benefits or meant a temporarily reduced pension.
- 38% of surveyed retirees indicated that being able to work seasonally or on an independent contractor basis would have encouraged them to delay retirement.
- 71% of retired workers who later decided to go back to work, originally retired because of a desire for more flexibility than their job offered.
Telecommuting reduces staffing redundancies and offers quick scale-up and scale-down options
- Having access to a flexible at-home workforce allows call centers, airlines, and others to add and reduce staff quickly as needed.
- The need to overstaff “just in case” is greatly reduced.
- 24/7 worldwide coverage is easier to staff with home-based help.
Environmental friendly policies are good for companies
- Tougher environmental laws are coming. Several cities are considering access taxes similar to those imposed in London. Many states are implementing programs that require businesses to reduce their carbon footprint. In 2008, Wal-Mart, together with Cadbury Schweppes (CSG), Imperial Tobacco (ITY), Nestlé, Procter & Gamble (PG, Fortune 500), Tesco, and Unilever (UN) formed the Supply Chain Leadership Coalition and began asking their vendors to provide emissions data. When its pilot ends later this year, Wal-Mart will begin comparing suppliers’ emissions records and favoring those with better scores.
- Businesses that want to stay competitive will need to pay attention to their carbon footprint.
- Telework offers an easy, effective way for companies to reduce their carbon footprint.
- Telework offers perhaps the easiest, cheapest way to address Clean Air Act requirements.
- Sun Microsystems reported that its 24,000 U.S. employees participating in the Open Work Program avoided producing 32,000 metric tons of CO2 last year by driving less often to and from work.
- Office equipment energy consumption rate is twice that of home office equipment energy consumption.
- 70% of employees report they would see their companies in a more favorable light if they helped them reduce their carbon emissions.
- 24% of employees say they’d take a pay cut of up to 10% to help the environment.
Telecommuting ensures continuity of operations in the event of a disaster
- Federal workers are required to telework to the maximum extent possible for this reason.
- Bird flu, terrorism, roadway problems, and weather-related disasters are all issues that can be mitigated with telecommuting.
- Three-quarters of teleworkers say they could continue to work in the event of a disaster compared with just 28% on non-teleworkers.
Telecommuting improves performance measurement systems
- Drucker, Six Sigma, and management experts agree that goal setting and performance measurement is key to successful management.
- For telework to be successful, employees must be measured by what they do, not where or how they do it.
Telecommuting offers access to grants and financial incentives
- A number of states including Virginia, Georgia, and Oregon offer financial incentives for businesses to adopt telework. Other states including Arizona, Vermont, Washington, and Connecticut offer free training to encourage companies to give it a try.
Advantages of Telecommuting For Employees *
Telecommuting saves employees money
- Employees save on gas, clothes, food, parking, and in some cases, daycare (provided they can flex their hours to eliminate the need).
- Average savings are $2,000 to $6,500/year/person for half-time telework.
- Telework allows employees to live in places where the cost of living is lower rather than being forced to live in high-cost urban locations close to company offices. Employees can save over $7,000/year for every $100,000 reduction in home value.
Telecommuting increases leisure time
- Full time telework results in an extra 2-3 workweeks of free time a year – time that would have been spent commuting.
- The majority of teleworkers report they have more time with family, friends, and leisure.
Telecommuting reduces stress, illness, and injury
- 80% of diseases show that stress is a trigger. Because telework reduces stressful commutes and alleviates caregiver separation issues, teleworkers are likely to suffer fewer stress-related illnesses.
- A quarter of telework employers report improvements in employee health.
- Teleworkers are exposed to fewer occupational and environmental hazards at home.
- Teleworkers suffer fewer airborne illnesses because of lack of contact with sick co-workers.
- Teleworkers report being able to make more time for exercise.
- Anyone who has ever dieted knows it’s harder to stay the course when you dine out. Teleworkers often eat healthier meals and are less inclined to consume fast food lunches.
- Those who choose to move to more rural areas can reduce the stress of the hustle and bustle cities and suburbs.
The Holdbacks To Telework / Telecommuting *
Management mistrust
- 75% of managers say they trust their employee, but a third say they’d like to be able to see them, just to be sure.
- Company culture must embrace the concept at all levels; sweatshop and typing pool mentality has to be abandoned.
- From Peter Drucker’s introduction of Management-By-Objectives in the mid-1950’s, to Six Sigma which was popularized by General Electric’s Jack Welch in the 1990’s, setting and measuring goals has long been held as the key to good management.
It’s not for everyone
- For some, social needs must be addressed. Telephone, email, instant messaging are a solution for some. Innovative solutions such as virtual outings, online games, and even Second Life have proven successful as well. Occasional telework is also a solution.
- Telecommuters must be self-directed.
- They should be comfortable with technology or arrangements should be made for remote tech support.
- They should have a defined home office space.
- Home-based employees need to understand that telecommuting is not a suitable replacement for daycare unless they can schedule work hours around their children’s needs.
- Some employees cite career fears as a reason not to telecommute. Successful teleworking programs overcome the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ issue with performance-based measurement systems, productivity versus presenteeism attitudes. Teleworkers who maintain regular communications (telephone, email, instant chat, even the occasional face-to-face meeting) with traditional co-workers and managers find career impact is not an issue.
Co-worker jealousy
- Employees need to understand why they were or were not chosen for telework.
- Employees should see telework as a benefit that is earned, not given.
- Standards of selection should be uniform.
Costs
- The average overall annual direct spend per virtual office employee was $2,710. Support costs average $1,231. Most organizations reported that virtual employees are provided with or reimbursed for: a laptop or desktop computer, software, cell phone, printer, voice/data communications, office supplies, and a fax machine. Most did not cover office setup, postage or courier services, scanners, PDAs or pagers, phone cards, or any sort of per diem.
- The U.S. General Services Administration estimates that a cost of $16 million to provide a basic teleworker at-home solution for 50,000 telecommuters (at an agency with 100,000 staff) can, in appropriate circumstances, be offset with a realization of over $36 million in benefits of the same period.
- NCR and Lucent found the savings from their telework programs were double the costs.
- In 2006, the U.S. GSA reported that an employer’s average first year cost per teleworker was $1,000 (often as low as $300).
- Only about a third of federal agencies pay for home office equipment, relying instead on the employee’s own equipment or providing equipment GSA already owns. Of those that do pay for equipment, most pay only a portion of the costs.
Security issues
- Almost 93% of managers involved in IRS pilot telework program believe there is no problem with data security.
- Security issues are easy to solve, but must be addressed.
- 90% of those charged with security in large organizations feel that home-based workers are not a security concern. In fact, they are more concerned with the occasional work that is taken out of the office by traditional employees who lack the training, tools, and technologies that teleworkers receive.
- Security training should be provided for all employees.
IT infrastructure changes may be necessary
- Teleworkers need access to company systems, software, and data.
- Infrastructure changes that support telework improve efficiency for office and traveling employees as well.
- Companies need to address remote technical support issues. Off-the-shelf solutions exist.
Collaboration Concerns
- Some managers feel that distance inhibits collaboration. They need the “energy in the room” when a crisis occurs.
Double taxation
- Some cities, notably New York, impose taxes on home-based workers whether they work in the city or not. A Connecticut resident, who works at home for a New York company, owes taxes to both states.
Employment Law and OSHA Concerns
- A few recent accidents in the homes of teleworkers have raised concerns about employer liability.
- The inability to monitor employee overtime is also an issue.
Local Zoning Issues
- Some communities and homeowner associations prohibit home offices.
For a roundup of the latest statistics on who’s telecommuting and how much, visit our Telecommuting Statistics Page. For a look at how we as a nation could benefit from regular telework, visit our Telework Savings Potential Page.
It’s time to make “the road less traveled” the way to work.
* Statistical information on this page comes from a wide range of studies. For additional information, reporters on assignment can email kate-at-GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics-dot-com. Please let us know what publication you represent, the nature of the article, your time frame, and the estimated date of publication. We’ll help if we can, and will always respond as quickly as possible. If you’re on deadline, please call 760-703-0377.
Let Us Help You Work Better
Finding Money – The Book
by TomFinding Money – The Book
Finding Money: Secrets of a Former Banker – $9.95
“One of the best books I’ve ever read on the subject”
– David Thornburgh, former Director Wharton Small Business Development Center
Finding Money is an extraordinary guide to one of the most urgent questions facing small business owners and entrepreneurs today: How can I find the money I need to start or grow my business? Originally published by the nation’s largest business book publisher, John Wiley & Sons, this ebook version has been updated for 2010.
Finding Money answers some of the most frequently asked small business questions: • What kinds of loans , grants , and other financing is available? • How much money should I borrow or raise? • What kind of small business loans or investment am I likely to qualify for? • How do I prepare a business loan application or investment prospectus? • How do I prepare an cash flow proforma? • How do I go about finding venture capital or angel investors ? • What can I do to bootstrap my business if I can’t find a lender or investor? Whether you are a small business startup, home based business, or fast-growing high flier, Finding Money will help you navigate the murky waters of how to finance your entrepreneurial dream. It includes over 30 valuable tables and charts provide vital information and insider secrets about how to negotiate with lenders and investors, lease vs. buy decisions, breakeven analysis, and much more. Here’s what others have said about Finding Money :
“I’ve read some fun, entertaining, and inspirational books by and for small business owners. But lets face it–they won’t pay the bills…. (Finding Money ) is my choice for one of the most useful books for small business owners…books that give high-quality guidance and examples for doing something.” – Orange County Register
To start a new business or to expand existing one, Finding Money offers practical, step-by-step advice to attract the right investors. There’s plenty of money out there and plenty of investors, entrepreneurs only need to know how to find it. Finding Money can point the way. – Frank Szivos – Editor, Angel Investor News
“Unlike other books full of stories and platitudes, this book tells it straight. After an overview of the difference between debt (loans) and equity (venture) capital and what it takes to qualify, the book provides an in depth look at how to do your homework so you can get the money you need. And it worked for me. If the book has a flaw it’s the no BS, straight to the point style–but that suited me just fine. I’m busy running a business and wanted the meat so I can get on with it, not the relish, and Finding Money delivered big time. Not just who has the money, but details on how they look at you and how they decide if you’re worthy of consideration for funding.” – Reader
“One of the best books I’ve ever read on the subject” – David Thornburgh, Director Wharton Small Business Development Center
Other Press on Finding Money
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Endorsements
by TomEndorsements
Here’s what the reviewers of Undress For Success had to say:
- This book helps professionals get over the main barrier to a more flexible workstyle: fear. With detailed, step-by-step information on how to start working from home, Undress For Success helps professionals take charge of their at-home careers. – Sara Sutton Fell, CEO and Founder of FlexJobs.com
- Wouldn’t everyone love to work from home in whatever stage of undress we felt like? Before you take that leap, spend some time reading Undress for Success. It will step you through the process of figuring out whether work from home is a viable option and what you need to do to make it happen. – Alison Doyle, About.com Job Searching Guide
- A clear, concise guide – Celine Roque, TheAppGap
- A complete manual that you as an employee or you as an employer can trust – Robert Paterson, President of The Renewal Consulting Group Inc
- If you want to find a way to work from home as an employee, freelancer, or home-based business owner, check out this book! – Lisa Orrell, The Orrell Group
- A resource-packed book for people curious about how to start working from home – Jeff Rutherford, Zero to $1000
- A wealth of options and how-to’s – Jack Nilles, JALA.com
- Useful advice for working at home – Time magazine
- Very readable and very interesting – Thursday Bram, LifeHack.com
- It’s like having your own personal career coach – Allena Tapia, About.com
- The best collection of teleworking “How-To’s†and “Why’s†that I’ve seen anywhere. This book is a gold mine for anyone seriously considering working from home. Whether you want to free-lance, operate your own business, or stay fully employed while you work at home, you’ll find dozens of hints and insights in this wonderfully entertaining and insightful book. And if you’re an employer who wants to attract and retain talented people, give them a copy of this book, send them home, and reap the benefits of their productivity and motivation. They’ll love you for enhancing their lives. – Jim Ware, Co-Founder, Future of Work Program and co-author of Corporate Agility – A Revolutionary New Model for Competing in a Flat World and(AMACOM 2007) and The Search for Digital Excellence (McGraw-Hill, 1998)
- . . . Kate Lister and Tom Harnish have been there. They are practicing entrepreneurs. They know the problems, the terrors and joys of making their own future. The issues, the possibilities, the hazards, practical rules of operation and a wealth of options and how-tos are here for you to explore. . . . – Jack Nilles, president of JALA International and author of Managing Telework – Strategies for Managing the Virtual Office, the book that inspired nations to rethink the way to work (from the foreword for Undress For Success).
- No one should attempt e-work until they understand how to be a competent e-worker. This unique and enlightening guide will help you open the door to e-work success – and improve every aspect of your life in the process. – Marcia Rhodes, Public Relations Director, WorldatWork
- There’s never been a comprehensive guide to all aspects of telecommuting, until Undress for Success. Whether you want to work remotely occasionally in your current job, find a full-time eWork job, or start a business that allows you to work from or at home, Lister and Harnish cover all of the bases in this comprehensive, easy-to-read guide that clearly outlines the rules of success. – Cali Williams Yost, Fast Company expert and author, Work+Life Fit (Riverhead/Penguin Group, 2005)
- Undress For Success is the perfect balance between covering all the details and doing so in an easy-to-read and light-hearted way. – Bob Fortier, President of InnoVisions Canada, and of The Canadian Telework Association
- I wish I’d had this book when I first started out – it’s like having your own personal career coach. Reading this will save many new freelancers a lot of grief! – Allena Tapia, About.com: Freelance Writing Guide and Editor of Garden Wall Publications
- If you’re an old-fashioned manager who’s obsessed with face time, hide this book now. There is no way your employees will commute to their cubicles Monday morning after reading this entertaining manifesto for ditching the panty-hose and actually enjoying work. – Laura Vanderkam, author, Grindhopping: Build a Rewarding Career without Paying Your Dues (McGraw-Hill, 2007)
- You could spend years with focus groups, assemble cross-functional internal teams to study and recommend organizational changes, or simply read Undress For Success to obtain the practical knowledge necessary to better serve your customers; increase loyalty and productivity; avoid layoffs; and improve your profitability for whatever comes your way. Kate and Tom are the ‘guiding hands’ for self-reliant control of your future success from home! – Jack Heacock, SVP and Co-Founder of The Telework Coalition, Washington, D.C.
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, BooksaMillion or Powell’s
Need help finding money for your business? Check out our 2009 eBook release of Finding Money–Secrets of a Former Banker.
Other Work At Home Books
by TomOther Work At Home Books
Aside from our Undress For Success & Finding Money, here are our favorite business books . . .
And one of our favorite self-published books . . .
Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom by Tamara Heacock
If Tamara, a mother of 5, count ’em 5 – and not all of them in school yet – can find a way to work from home, you can too. Her Confessions of a Stay At Home Mom, is an inspirational read for any mother.
Full Disclosure: If you click on one of the books on this page and then actually order something, we earn a few pennies on the sale. We swear to the gods of chocolate that we recommend them because we like them – the books, not the chocolate, but we like it too which is why we prefer you click here rather than going directly to Amazon. It costs you the same either way – the books, not the chocolate. Hey, an author’s gotta eat.
About
by TomWe’re a small, but we are mighty!
Today, more than ever, organizations need to anticipate change, rather than react to it. They need to ensure the changes they make to their workplaces, work processes, and work policies are aligned with and measured against business goals. Often, it takes the eyes of an outsider to fully understand and catalyze the leadership, cultural, technological, and other shifts essential to the success of a change initiative.
Meet the Principals of Global Workplace Analytics
—a.k.a. “The Kate’s for Change”—
Kate Lister
Principal
Workplace Research & Analytics
Kate Lister is a widely recognized thought leader on trends that are changing the who, what, when, where, why, and how of work. As the founder of Global Workplace Analytics, she has been helping organizations understand, pilot, scale, and optimize their workplace strategies and work practices for nearly two decades.
Kate was one of only three witnesses invited to testify before a U.S. Senate committee regarding the post-pandemic potential for distributed work in government.
A former banker, venture capitalist, and serial entrepreneur, Kate brings the knowledge, wisdom, and research-based discipline her clients need to make informed decisions about how to make work, work better for all constituents.
Kate’s thoughts on the future of work are frequently featured in the news by top outlets including the New York Times, NPR, BBC, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Today Show, and many others.
Kate has written or co-authored five business books, dozens of white papers—including several that were peer-reviewed, and scores of articles.
As a sought-after speaker, Kate has been invited to speak at hundreds of U.S. and global conferences, webinars, and podcasts.
Kate shares her home with four mammals—one two-legged, one three-legged, and two four-legged. A resident of San Diego, she is a weather snob and charges extra if she is forced to travel anywhere with temperatures over 75F or less than 65F, humidity greater than 75%, or bugs. She is willing to make exceptions for Hawaii, New Zealand, and Portugal.
Kate Lister’s Superpowers
Authenticity, empathy, big-picture thinking, making the business case for workplace change for all stakeholders, using research to inform decisions, making work-work better, using science to measure the impact of workplace change on business results
Kate North
Principal
Workplace Innovation & Transformation
Kate North is a leading authority on workplace and real estate strategies and a trusted advisor to corporate real estate executives, HR teams, and business leaders around the globe. She has spent over 25 years helping organizations envision and execute transformative workplace strategies that align organizational culture with business objectives.
Kate approaches each engagement with an eye toward creating a holistic solution, one that breaks down silos between Real Estate, HR, IT, Finance, Sustainability, and other internal and external stakeholders.
Kate is a passionate community builder. In 2007, she helped launch the first Workplace Community within CoreNet Global. In 2013, she co-founded the “Workplace Evolutionaries” (WE), a vibrant community of practice within the International Facility Management Association (IFMA). She continues to serve as Global Chair of WE, has served on the IFMA Board of Directors (2018-2021), and was awarded the Global Chair Citation by IFMA’s Chairman of the Board (2017).
Kate loves to share knowledge. She has co-authored three editions of “Work on the Move” for the IFMA Foundation—contributing over seventy workplace case studies, produced numerous thought leadership articles, and has led or participated in dozens of webinars and podcasts, and spoken at industry conferences around the world.
Mentoring is a key part of Kate’s life and she is deeply committed to supporting women in real estate for over a decade and is also an active member of the Executive Women in Corporate Real Estate and WIN.
Kate counts herself lucky to have lived in the great cities of NYC, Chicago, Los Angeles, La Jolla, Palo Alto, Austin, and even Auckland NZ, but it’s the mountains of Salt Lake City she calls home. If you’re looking to do a little yodeling or terrorizing the mountain slopes, she’s your person!
Kate North’s Superpowers
Consensus building, leadership alignment, identifying the real problem, helping organizations envision, embrace, and solve complex workplace, people, and organizational challenges
Our Workplace Consulting Partners
We don’t pretend to be the experts for everything our clients need but after 20+ years in the business, we have identified best-in-class providers who can help round out our team when needed. They are not our B team—actually, we never want one of those—they are established experts with strong track records of success in their fields. In most cases, we remain the primary contact on all engagements to ensure the seamless delivery of our combined services, but if it makes more sense for the client to contract with our advisors directly, we are happy to make that work.
Nida Mehtab
Strategic Partner
Specialty: Workplace & Portfolio Optimization
Company: Caryatid LLC
Nida Mehtab, Founder and CEO of Caryatid, a boutique Workplace Consultancy, is known for her leadership in commercial real estate, strategic change management, and developing global workplace strategies enabling effective workforce experience. Her expertise in architecture and commercial real estate development, combined with her dual perspective as an occupier and service provider, provides her with a comprehensive understanding of the complex dynamics of real estate. This expertise allows her to effectively address challenges at all levels and cultivate these skills within her team at Caryatid. Her ability to balance employee satisfaction with organizational goals exemplifies her multifaceted skills, fostering meaningful interactions with various stakeholders from C-suite leaders to project teams.
Nida is adept at leveraging data-driven insights from workplace and workforce areas, identifying opportunities, and addressing challenges. This strategic approach to data has been key in advancing Caryatid, especially in managing complex real estate programs and formulating compelling business cases for initiatives up to a billion dollars. She is skilled at synthesizing information from different sources, identifying unmet needs, and devising innovative solutions. Her understanding of how to enable cultural transformation through workplace change has played an integral role in helping organizations achieve their goals.
In addition to being a mentor to aspiring women leaders, Nida also contributes to the Corenet EDIB and WOC committees. She has served on the board of the Goldie B. Wolfe Miller – Women Leadership Initiative and CREW SF.
Nida renews her energy by experiencing diverse cultures in her travels around the world. If you happen to be in the Sahara desert, you might catch her riding a camel.
Nida’s Superpowers:
Her superpowers include workplace strategy, executive alignment, cultural transformation, portfolio planning, capital planning, business case development, success measurement, change management, and data triangulation.
Lisa Whited
Sr. Consultant
Specialty: Organizational Development, Employee Engagement & Sustainability
Company: WTF Consulting
Lisa’s education, experience, and credentials blend organizational development, DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging), behavioral change, workplace design, and sustainability. She is a passionate advocate for improving work for all.
Lisa has an MS in Organization + Management from Antioch University and holds certifications in mediation, facilitation, interior design, and as a circular economy specialist. She is pursuing a doctorate in Organizational Development + Change at Fielding Graduate University’s School of Leadership Studies and is recognized as being in the top 1% of Mentimeter presenters in the world. Mentimeter is a tool that Lisa uses to ensure that all voices are heard as part of her intentionally designed inclusive workshops.
Lisa is the principal of LisaWhited.com and has consulted with Google, Microsoft, WTW, bp, and Omnicom, among others. She was a contributing author to IFMA’s Work On The Move 3, and received IFMA’s Distinguished Author Award for her book, Work Better. Save the Planet which is a guide for building employee engagement while positively impacting climate change.
Lisa is a resident of Portland, Maine. She is a potato farmer’s granddaughter and an engineer’s daughter. The first informs her work ethic, and the second explains her love of solving problems.
Superpowers:
Believing in the art of possibility, including all voices in change, public speaking, facilitation, listening, and respectfully questioning assumptions.
Why Global Workplace Analytics?
Sure, there are bigger firms, but here are some of the reasons our clients and partners choose us instead:
• We didn’t just swoop in for the kill when “hybrid” and “remote” work became popular. We have been helping organizations with distributed work strategies for over two decades.
• Our work is informed by science. We maintain and continually update a proprietary database that includes over 7,000 research papers, case studies, news items, and more.
• Kate Lister, the founder of Global Workplace Analytics, was one of only three witnesses invited to testify before a Congressional Committee regarding the post-pandemic future of distributed work in government.
• When the U.S. General Accountability Office was charged with finding tools that could help them quantify the impact of distributed work in government they called our Workplace Savings Calculator © “comprehensive and thoroughly researched.” It was the only tool recommended in their report to Congress.
• We are a globally recognized authority on the future of work. Together the principals of Global Workplace Analytics have written or co-authored eight books, numerous research papers, and dozens of articles, several of which were peer-reviewed.
• You won’t get the ‘B Team’ after the sale is done because we don’t have one.
• We take our work, but not ourselves, seriously.
Here are just some of the organizations we’ve helped make work, work better.
We’ve been helping organizations transform the way they work for over two decades.
We’re here to help!
Email or contact us.
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