Companies Offering Work
at Home
By Guide J. Steven Niznik
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In 1999, Lucent Technologies was dubbed one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" by Fortune Magazine and one of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" by Working Mother Magazine. That's because Lucent offers all ten of the most-desirable benefits and working conditions tallied from worker polls.
High among them is telecommuting, which Lucent offers to employees who work jobs that are conducive to it. Offers doesn't necessarily mean that they come right out with it during interviews. But they are liberal about telecommuting and will negotiate the benefit with you, if the job for which you are applying is conducive to it. Lucent will even help you set up a "virtual" office, if your manager approves.
In other words, if you are trustworthy and your job is conducive to it (these are key factors), and your management approves of you forgoing office space, Lucent will set you up with remote access from your home office, up to and including voice services and a high-speed Internet connection. You'll likely have to report to an office occasionally for face-to-face meetings and such, but it's about as close to full-time telecommuting as you'll likely get from any company.
Lucent calls its full-time, work-at-home employees Formal Telecommuters. Lucent also more commonly allows part-time telecommuting for employees whom it calls Casual Telecommuters. The latter typically don't get the voice services. They might also have to make do with a toll-free, analog modem connection direct to Lucent, or connect via their personal Internet connection through a VPN. But, it's a small price to pay for the part-time privilege and management can approve exceptions. Many Lucent employees get state-of-art, laptop computers with carrying cases and docking stations, handy for telecommuting.
| To have any chance at telecommuting, it's not a good idea to contact Lucent (or any legit company) about "telecommuting jobs" or "work-at-home jobs." Remember, telecommuting is a benefit, not a job. It's a better idea to first qualify for one of the jobs Lucent offers and go through the normal channels to apply, before you even mention telecommuting. If you get to an interview, show interest in the job and company, wait until they show interest in hiring you, and then negotiate the telecommuting benefit as you would salary and other benefits. Better yet, wait until you've proved yourself in the office, then negotiate the telecommuting benefit with your boss. |
Back when they were part of AT&T, Lucent was one of the innovators of telecommuting, as many of their products and services are for remote access on the Internet. AT&T started Telecommute America, the first nationwide program on telecommuting in the US, which evolved into the Telework WebGuide.
| As you might have gathered, AT&T is another likely company to investigate for jobs with telecommuting benefits, as are other telecommunications and Internet-related companies. Lucent recently spun off Avaya Communication, yet another possibility, considering that many Lucent employees made the switch and the culture will likely carry over. "Best places to work" articles are good sources for research, especially those that tout companies as family-friendly or sensitive to the plight of working mothers. |
Lucent is worldwide. But, since you might have to report to an office occasionally, as with any telecommuting benefit at any company, it's a good idea to live in or near the city where the office to which you apply is located. You must be a Lucent employee "inside the firewall" to read about their telecommuting benefits at the internal site, but you can research the company and look for jobs worldwide at their external Work@Lucent site.
Of course, Lucent doesn't advertise the telecommuting benefit in their job ads. But, now you know just the same.
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