Home workers are independent contractors who produce goods or services for profit. Working from home has benefits for both the worker and employer, particularly in the IT field. However, the industrial homework industry has been criticized for exploiting workers. Job seekers should be wary of scams promising large amounts of money for minimal work.
A domestic worker is an individual who conducts business out of a home office and produces goods or services for profit. Considered to be independent business owners, freelancers or independent contractors, home workers are seen as employees located remotely remotely to a main office. Their employment is through an outside company offering a wage to the home worker in exchange for designated goods, undertakings and services.
There are many advantages to working from home, both for the worker and the employer. The worker has the ease of being in their own environment, saving time and money on long trips and focusing on the job at hand, 24/7. For the employer, using workers at home means less money spent on office space and equipment, employee parking, uniforms and other expenses.
Jobs in the information technology (IT) field are among the most common positions for home-based workers. These computer-centric jobs allow for easy telecommuting and allow a worker to accomplish the same as they would if they were located in a centralized on-premises office. In some cases, the home worker can be even more productive, as the intrusions and distractions in a home office tend to be less than in a busy, formal workplace.
While IT jobs require an advanced skill set, many domestic worker jobs are more routine in nature. This often includes data entry jobs – often involving keystroke entry performed on a home computer – and customer service positions, where employees receive wired calls to their home phones and field emails through their personal computers. Some administrative, executive, and personal assistants may also work from a home office, supporting an individual or department through technological means.
One area of the homework industry that has received a lot of scrutiny is the field known as industrial homework, or piecework. In these positions, workers are hired to assemble products in their own homes. Critics of the industrial work-from-home industry cite evidence that many companies that work outside the home are exploiting workers, violating minimum wage laws and business ethics, and operating under workshop conditions. As a result, in several countries, home-based workers have been included in local and national legislation to become a legally protected class of workers.
An aspiring work-at-home job may be lured into the field through print or online advertisements that promise large amounts of money for minimal work. Unfortunately, the housekeeping industry is rife with scams, targeting unsuspecting workers who think they’re about to be offered a job in exchange for “a small fee”. Recruitment for legitimate work from home opportunities is normally advertised directly by the employer and under no circumstances do they require any kind of payment from the worker.
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