Virtual Office Work Ethics
They still apply to work-from-home jobs
by Becky Brillion & Deb Kloeppel, The Military Spouse Corporate Career Network (MSCCN)
Virtual work-from-home positions offer the most transient career possibilities to military wives, caregivers and war-wounded. Such jobs take extreme discipline, require higher results to account for actual work and provide minimal training, making it essential that the employee applies with experience and logistic requirements already in place.
Conform to Regular Work Rules
Work-from-home employees must conform to regular work rules. They need to be ready to work at the agreed time with all distractions removed from their work area, including children, dogs, televisions and visitors. Special consideration should be given to all possible distractions that may be heard by a customer if the job requires phone communication. For example, if you have a dog that does the “happy dance” when the doorbell rings, tape a note over your doorbell for couriers and other unexpected guests to see informing them not to ring the doorbell while you’re working.
Employers rely on their virtual employees to be trustworthy, and can only implement electronic systems to monitor productivity. Quotas, written updates and timesheets measure output and it is wrong for a virtual employee to exaggerate their results. Not only is it unethical, but it will also be discovered.
Top 5 Steps to Ensure Ethical Standards As A Virtual Office (VO) Professional:
1. Completely prepare your family for your new job boundaries. Designate hours during the day you’re not going to be available to them. Focus on priority items first.
2. Don’t multitask in your VO job. Changing a diaper while talking to a CEO’s administrative assistant doesn’t bode well in the business world.
3. If you’re an independent contractor, bill your employers for actual hours worked. Reporting what you do, when you do it and the results you’ve had while doing it is crucial to your pay raises, evaluations and, most importantly, the continuation of your contract.
4. Visit the IRS Web site (IRS.gov) for information on obtaining your tax ID number via a business license to operate as an independent contractor. Become completely familiar with the “IRS 20 Point Test” for the federal and state laws you must follow as an independent contractor.
5. Bottom line: Treat your home office environment in a business-like fashion. Never inappropriately bill your employer for hours you didn’t work during the day. Once the trust of your billing record as an independent contractor is gone, nothing can bring it back. Don’t kid yourself: Employers talk to one another!