The ability to work from home has been a game-changer for us full-time working parents. Thanks to the magic of the internet, a larger number of jobs, from customer service to content creation to programming and development, are now available to us. Since most of these jobs have flexible schedules, we can finally provide for our families while attending to our more domestic responsibilities.
I credit the abundance of work from home opportunities to the renewed importance given to work-life balance. Back in the day, it was either one or the other. But what good is a job if you never got to enjoy the fruits of your labor with your family? Conversely, what good is all that free time if you can’t provide the basic necessities to your loved ones? So, yeah. Balance is important.
What Are The Best Work From Home Jobs?
I’ve been working from home since the birth of my second kid, and I’ve seen what’s available out there (I’ve even tried my fair share of different jobs before settling on blogging). I think the most common and legit work from home jobs, whether part-time work from home or full-time, involve customer service. There are also a lot of opportunities with content creation (freelance writing or video production) and programming.
But since content creation and programming involve highly specialized skills, I’ll be sharing some customer service opportunities in this article. Below, I’ll be listing my top five companies to work from home for. But first, I really need to give you some important advice before we move forward.
Choosing The Right (i. E. Legit) Company Is Important
Time and effort are valuable, but it’s doubly so for us parents. Think about it – in addition to work and career stuff, we have to make sure the household is operating smoothly. And that is why I can’t emphasize enough that you shouldn’t settle on the first company that gives you a job offer. Because if that company turns out to be a scam, it’s not like you can storm their offices to demand your back pay.
So do your due diligence when assessing your options. And I’ll be upfront: it can sometimes get frustrating finding legitimate work from home jobs. Hopefully, my list of real work from home jobs will help you get on your way to establishing a rewarding home-based career.
Let’s get to it!
Convergys
Convergys is a giant in the customer service industry. The company has over 100,000 employees and operates 150 centers in over 30 countries. Given the size of the company, it’s not surprising that they’re always looking for talented people to add to their team. And it’s worth checking if they have listings for work from home jobs.
Earning Potential: Pay rates vary from location to location, but the average work from home salary starts at around $10 per hour.
IQOR
This company isn’t a household name like Convergys (at least not to me), but iQor is still one of the bigger companies in the field. They employ over 40,000 individuals. That’s nowhere near the 100,000 employees of Convergys, but having 40,000 is still pretty legit. The company has that young, energetic vibe, which I always like.
Earning Potential: Hourly pay also starts at $10 an hour. You can also earn benefits here, such as performance bonuses and paid leave. One of the best things about iQor is that they offer health and dental insurance for qualified team members.
Vipdesk Connect
I’m a big fan of this company, specifically because they work in work luxury brands. I used to work in luxury retail, and it’s fun to work with high-end brands. It’s an entirely different beast from handling mobile carriers and health insurance. But take note, luxury brands have extremely high standards. You’ll have to exemplify the vibe of the brand you’re handling.
Earning Potential: Working with luxury brands doesn’t necessarily mean a luxury salary. They pay about $10 an hour – pretty much average. You’re also entitled to the usual performance bonuses. If you work full-time you can qualify for medical, dental, and vision coverage.
Teletech
TeleTech Holdings, Inc. has been around since 1982 and operates in 19 countries, so you know they’re legit. They also employ over 48,000 people, so there’s a pretty big chance they’re always on the lookout for exceptional people such as yourself. The company hires people who are willing to provide great experiences to their customers, and they also emphasize building customer loyalty.
Earning Potential: The pay rates on TeleTech vary somewhat from the other companies listed here. Pay varies based on position and tenure and can go from $9.05 an hour to as much as $12.84 an hour. Best of all, they’ve got health and dental plans, as well as a 401(k) plan.
Sykes Home
Next to Convergys, Sykes is probably one of the most famous companies in the customer service space. I personally have lots of friends who have built great, fulfilling careers working for Sykes. Now, Sykes Home is slightly different, because it is focused on hiring talents for work from home jobs across the United States and Canada. The fact that they have a wing focused on work from home careers is a good sign.
Earning Potential: Pay varies from a low of $9.09 to a high of $10.41 per hour. Employees from the United States will enjoy health coverage and 401(k) contributions.
Other Places To Find Work From Home Gig
The Earn That Buck community (specifically their Work From Home sub-forum) is an awesome resource for finding online work. The forum managers used to offer rewards for meaningful posts, but they recently took that feature down. And I don’t even mind. The real value is in the information and advice you get from the forum. The rewards are just a bonus.
Apart from work from home leads, the Earn That Buck forum also has lots of info on survey sites, contractor/odd jobs, sharing economic gigs, and other money-making opportunities. Join them now!
Not Into Customer Service? Not A Problem!
If spending your working hours listening to customer problems isn’t your cup of tea, that’s totally fine. That type of job isn’t for everyone. And to be honest, I’ve always preferred the more creative side of working.
As I mentioned earlier, there are lots of work from home opportunities for content creators. This is an extremely wide field. You can manage the official blogs and social media pages of brands, or you can go at it on your own. If you start your own blog, be prepared to do your own legwork when it comes to getting sponsored. If you’ve got some video editing skills, you can create monetized content for YouTube.
Graphic designers are also in-demand. You can work either as a freelancer or in-house designer. Online clients and companies need a wide variety of graphic design services, from photo retouching to character design, and even product rendering.
Web developers will also have no trouble finding work from home jobs online. Websites are popping up at an astounding rate, and that brings a high demand for highly-skilled programmers.
There’s a lot here to cover, and I’ll probably write a more in-depth article for content creators, creatives, and programmers in the future.
Working From Home: The Advantages, And Disadvantages
Now that I’ve given you some companies to check out, I also have to list down a few advantages and disadvantages of working from home. Yep, there are still disadvantages to working from home. While I wouldn’t give up my work from home career, there are a few things you need to consider before going all-in on this type of work.
But first, let’s talk about the good stuff.
Advantages
No More Commuting!
As a work from home dad, my commute involves walking from the bedroom to the spare room, which I’ve turned into my home office. That’s it – no stressing over traffic or the train schedule. This has to be the biggest advantage of working from home – and it becomes immediately obvious during the holiday season when the roads become even more crowded than normal.
I Can Do Dad (and Hubby) Stuff In Between Work Stuff
Schedules are pretty flexible when you work from home. This means you’ll be able to attend to some pressing household concerns without derailing your schedule too much. This has been a big advantage to me, and it kind of makes me feel like a Super Dad!
Disadvantages
When I worked in an office, it was relatively easy to maintain boundaries. I had my own space that was unequivocally mine, and colleagues generally left me to do my work. If an officemate bothered me, I could simply ignore them or move to an empty conference room.
But when I started working from home, I learned that it was more difficult to maintain those boundaries. Try telling a crying toddler they had to keep quiet for your super-important conference call. Or try explaining to a hyperactive youngster that your workspace is not their play space.
De-stressing Can Be Tough
When I used to work in an office, my drive home used to be my way of winding down. Yes, dealing with traffic is stressful. But something about that long drive told my mind that it was time to transition from work mode to home mode. By the time I got home, all the work-related stress that had accumulated during the day was pretty much gone.
But now that my office is at home, I lost that de-stressing ritual. For the first few weeks I worked at home, I was pretty stressed out… at least until I learned that I had to consciously de-stress. My new ritual was fixing my desk. It’s so simple, but it helped me switch off, so to speak.
In Closing
So there you have it. Hopefully, this article puts you on the path for a rewarding home-based career! If you’ve got any info to share, by all means, let us know!
I credit the abundance of work from home opportunities to the renewed importance given to work-life balance. Back in the day, it was either one or the other. But what good is a job if you never got to enjoy the fruits of your labor with your family? Conversely, what good is all that free time if you can’t provide the basic necessities to your loved ones? So, yeah. Balance is important.
What Are The Best Work From Home Jobs?
I’ve been working from home since the birth of my second kid, and I’ve seen what’s available out there (I’ve even tried my fair share of different jobs before settling on blogging). I think the most common and legit work from home jobs, whether part-time work from home or full-time, involve customer service. There are also a lot of opportunities with content creation (freelance writing or video production) and programming.
But since content creation and programming involve highly specialized skills, I’ll be sharing some customer service opportunities in this article. Below, I’ll be listing my top five companies to work from home for. But first, I really need to give you some important advice before we move forward.
Choosing The Right (i. E. Legit) Company Is Important
Time and effort are valuable, but it’s doubly so for us parents. Think about it – in addition to work and career stuff, we have to make sure the household is operating smoothly. And that is why I can’t emphasize enough that you shouldn’t settle on the first company that gives you a job offer. Because if that company turns out to be a scam, it’s not like you can storm their offices to demand your back pay.
So do your due diligence when assessing your options. And I’ll be upfront: it can sometimes get frustrating finding legitimate work from home jobs. Hopefully, my list of real work from home jobs will help you get on your way to establishing a rewarding home-based career.
Let’s get to it!
Convergys
Convergys is a giant in the customer service industry. The company has over 100,000 employees and operates 150 centers in over 30 countries. Given the size of the company, it’s not surprising that they’re always looking for talented people to add to their team. And it’s worth checking if they have listings for work from home jobs.
Earning Potential: Pay rates vary from location to location, but the average work from home salary starts at around $10 per hour.
IQOR
This company isn’t a household name like Convergys (at least not to me), but iQor is still one of the bigger companies in the field. They employ over 40,000 individuals. That’s nowhere near the 100,000 employees of Convergys, but having 40,000 is still pretty legit. The company has that young, energetic vibe, which I always like.
Earning Potential: Hourly pay also starts at $10 an hour. You can also earn benefits here, such as performance bonuses and paid leave. One of the best things about iQor is that they offer health and dental insurance for qualified team members.
Vipdesk Connect
I’m a big fan of this company, specifically because they work in work luxury brands. I used to work in luxury retail, and it’s fun to work with high-end brands. It’s an entirely different beast from handling mobile carriers and health insurance. But take note, luxury brands have extremely high standards. You’ll have to exemplify the vibe of the brand you’re handling.
Earning Potential: Working with luxury brands doesn’t necessarily mean a luxury salary. They pay about $10 an hour – pretty much average. You’re also entitled to the usual performance bonuses. If you work full-time you can qualify for medical, dental, and vision coverage.
Teletech
TeleTech Holdings, Inc. has been around since 1982 and operates in 19 countries, so you know they’re legit. They also employ over 48,000 people, so there’s a pretty big chance they’re always on the lookout for exceptional people such as yourself. The company hires people who are willing to provide great experiences to their customers, and they also emphasize building customer loyalty.
Earning Potential: The pay rates on TeleTech vary somewhat from the other companies listed here. Pay varies based on position and tenure and can go from $9.05 an hour to as much as $12.84 an hour. Best of all, they’ve got health and dental plans, as well as a 401(k) plan.
Sykes Home
Next to Convergys, Sykes is probably one of the most famous companies in the customer service space. I personally have lots of friends who have built great, fulfilling careers working for Sykes. Now, Sykes Home is slightly different, because it is focused on hiring talents for work from home jobs across the United States and Canada. The fact that they have a wing focused on work from home careers is a good sign.
Earning Potential: Pay varies from a low of $9.09 to a high of $10.41 per hour. Employees from the United States will enjoy health coverage and 401(k) contributions.
Other Places To Find Work From Home Gig
The Earn That Buck community (specifically their Work From Home sub-forum) is an awesome resource for finding online work. The forum managers used to offer rewards for meaningful posts, but they recently took that feature down. And I don’t even mind. The real value is in the information and advice you get from the forum. The rewards are just a bonus.
Apart from work from home leads, the Earn That Buck forum also has lots of info on survey sites, contractor/odd jobs, sharing economic gigs, and other money-making opportunities. Join them now!
Not Into Customer Service? Not A Problem!
If spending your working hours listening to customer problems isn’t your cup of tea, that’s totally fine. That type of job isn’t for everyone. And to be honest, I’ve always preferred the more creative side of working.
As I mentioned earlier, there are lots of work from home opportunities for content creators. This is an extremely wide field. You can manage the official blogs and social media pages of brands, or you can go at it on your own. If you start your own blog, be prepared to do your own legwork when it comes to getting sponsored. If you’ve got some video editing skills, you can create monetized content for YouTube.
Graphic designers are also in-demand. You can work either as a freelancer or in-house designer. Online clients and companies need a wide variety of graphic design services, from photo retouching to character design, and even product rendering.
Web developers will also have no trouble finding work from home jobs online. Websites are popping up at an astounding rate, and that brings a high demand for highly-skilled programmers.
There’s a lot here to cover, and I’ll probably write a more in-depth article for content creators, creatives, and programmers in the future.
Working From Home: The Advantages, And Disadvantages
Now that I’ve given you some companies to check out, I also have to list down a few advantages and disadvantages of working from home. Yep, there are still disadvantages to working from home. While I wouldn’t give up my work from home career, there are a few things you need to consider before going all-in on this type of work.
But first, let’s talk about the good stuff.
Advantages
No More Commuting!
As a work from home dad, my commute involves walking from the bedroom to the spare room, which I’ve turned into my home office. That’s it – no stressing over traffic or the train schedule. This has to be the biggest advantage of working from home – and it becomes immediately obvious during the holiday season when the roads become even more crowded than normal.
I Can Do Dad (and Hubby) Stuff In Between Work Stuff
Schedules are pretty flexible when you work from home. This means you’ll be able to attend to some pressing household concerns without derailing your schedule too much. This has been a big advantage to me, and it kind of makes me feel like a Super Dad!
Disadvantages
When I worked in an office, it was relatively easy to maintain boundaries. I had my own space that was unequivocally mine, and colleagues generally left me to do my work. If an officemate bothered me, I could simply ignore them or move to an empty conference room.
But when I started working from home, I learned that it was more difficult to maintain those boundaries. Try telling a crying toddler they had to keep quiet for your super-important conference call. Or try explaining to a hyperactive youngster that your workspace is not their play space.
De-stressing Can Be Tough
When I used to work in an office, my drive home used to be my way of winding down. Yes, dealing with traffic is stressful. But something about that long drive told my mind that it was time to transition from work mode to home mode. By the time I got home, all the work-related stress that had accumulated during the day was pretty much gone.
But now that my office is at home, I lost that de-stressing ritual. For the first few weeks I worked at home, I was pretty stressed out… at least until I learned that I had to consciously de-stress. My new ritual was fixing my desk. It’s so simple, but it helped me switch off, so to speak.
In Closing
So there you have it. Hopefully, this article puts you on the path for a rewarding home-based career! If you’ve got any info to share, by all means, let us know!
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