By Carol Rucker
If you are senior enough to be a retiree, you probably already know that the “new” concept of working at home is actually an old corporate tradition. But you might be surprised to discover that the new tradition of online work-at-home freelance jobs for retirees could be the perfect way to earn extra cash and maybe even un-retire yourself.
Decades back, very few steady careers offered a work-at-home option. Unless you were an insurance investigator, a salesman, a writer–oh, and unless you were a man–you probably nine-to-fived your way to retirement just like everyone else.
You might still harbor vague jealousies of phantom co-workers. Those were the employees you rarely saw because they were either on-the-road or working at home. They occasionally slipped in and out the office, but only for mail pickups, staff meetings, and company car safety checks. Admit it. You always wished you could have the same work freedom they did. Freelancing can give it to you.
Technology has expanded the work at home experience
If you were lucky enough to be one of those old school corporate home workers, you may have dialed up clients on a rotary phone, sorted piles of papers at your kitchen table, and used a Daytimer to track your life.
Only writers (and women) did their own typing back then. Home workers dictated reports and correspondence on a recorder or a phone dictation system. Office transcribers typed them into finished documents.
As a retiree, you’ve witnessed the forward leap through technology that helped make working from home a universal trend. With computers, tablets, smartphones, and wireless internet access, employees and freelancers can work anywhere in the world. Cloud computing eases work submission, collaboration and feedback. It lets skittish managers monitor work product in real time.
Everyone works on a keyboard, so you have to do your own typing. But that small concession can open up a new world of freelance opportunities. And if you really want to dictate your work instead of hunting and pecking on a keyboard, transcription programs can turn your spoken words into documents. It can be like having your own office support staff.
Benefits for workers
When corporations embrace the idea of letting freelancers do the job on their own terms, workers become more productive. When you work at home, you have choices.
- You decide what work you do.
- You decide how much and how often you work.
- You can schedule work around personal activities and commitments.
- You can avoid the expense and wasted hours of endless commuting.
Employers benefit as well
The study “Does Working From Home Work?” by Stanford Professor Nicholas Bloom, discusses the benefits to open minded businesses that choose to hire home workers.
- Productivity increases due to the elimination of workplace distractions.
- Workers are happier and less likely to quit.
- Attrition rates decrease.
- Businesses save the cost of office space and furniture.
- When freelancers do the work, businesses also save on salaries and benefits.
It’s not for everyone
Working at home doesn’t work for everyone. But if you’re a retiree with a lifetime of getting the job done, it could be for you. As with any new set of skills, there’s a learning curve. But you can usually earn while you learn. To thrive as a stay-at-home worker, you need only call on your history of professionalism, motivation, and self-discipline.
Read the information here if you’d like to know more about work-at-home freelance jobs for retirees.
Editor’s Note: This blog is an example of the kind of writing you can get for your blog. The only thing that’s different is that it has the name of the writer. For your blog, you can say you wrote it. That’s fine with us. We’re happy mutts. Click here for more explanation of this series of posts.
