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As part of National Work and Family Month, all of our blog posts for October will be focused around striking that delicate balance between your career and your home life. One way we at PilmerPR are able to create this balance is through telecommuting. We have a virtual office so many of our associates are able to work from wherever they are comfortable. Freelance work and telecommuting are becoming the way of the future. While not every business is set up to allow telecommuting, many corporations small and large find that allowing employees to work remotely can save money, attract top talent and help reduce turnover.

Working with a team that is not always physically present can have its challenges, but technology has made it more convenient than ever before. The best way to ensure that telecommuting works for your business is to surround yourself with the best possible staff – people who are committed to doing their best work from home. That said, great communication tools go a long way to make everything run smoothly. Here’s a list of some of the top resources we utilize to bring our team together across several time zones to give our clients our best work, every time.

1. Google Drive – Free storage connected to your email? Yes, please! Easy to share and collaborate, Google Drive is a great way for telecommuters to have access to work without going into the office.
2. Free Conference Lines – Skype and Google Hangouts are great options for informal meetings, but you don’t always want to mess with unreliable video chats when clients are involved pop over to these guys. There are plenty of free conference line options that work perfect for telecommuters who need to have phone meetings. Freeconferencecall.com is just one example.
3. Project Management Software – There are a few low cost or potentially free options to help manage your workflow. This is essential when coordinating with employees who don’t share the same physical working space or work the same hours. Our top three project management tools are: Trello, Podio or Zoho Projects. Each of these will help you manage your projects and tasks more efficiently. These programs are a great way to help ensure everything gets done when it needs to be.
4. Join.me – Different from your average video conference app, join.me allows you to share your screen with others and if needed, even share control of the system. Join.me is a great way for telecommuters to show clients or in-house teammates things that are difficult to explain over the phone. It takes the complicated and makes it simple.
5. Hootsuite – At this point, social media has to be a part of your company strategy. A great, easy way to manage all your social media profiles and stay on top of the social media game is to use a management tool like Hootsuite, specifically designed for social media. Hootsuite allows multiple employees to manage a single account, so your staff can coordinate with each other.
6. Dropbox – We’ve already mentioned Google Drive, which can be real life-save, but Dropbox is another option that allows telecommuters more secure access to files they need. Dropbox is a great, low-cost cloud storage option for those looking for a way to stay connected.

Telecommuting is a great option for many and is quickly becoming a popular way for previously inaccessible talent to make their mark on the workforce. We are very thankful for all the tools that make it possible to telecommute. The business world continues to evolve and telecommuting is one of the ways that it is changing for the better. To keep up with a world on the run, work is now available on the run as well.

Are you a telecommuter? What are your thoughts on telecommuting? Comment below, we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Are you looking to telecommute? Do you have marketing skills that need to be shared with the world? Contact us! We are always looking for new talent.