TOPIC: BUSINESS FROM HOME

DEFINITION OF CONCEPT/THEORY
A business whose primary oIIice is in the owner's home. The business can be any
size or any type as long as the oIIice itselI is located in a home. A work Irom
home or work at home arrangement involves working Irom home and diIIers Irom
the teleworking/ telecommuting arrangement in that it does not require that the
employee stay electronically connected to the work location during business
hours. Work perIormed is generally done independently so does not require that
the employee stay electronically connected to the work location during business
hours. Work perIormed is generally done independently so does not require team
interaction or consistent communication. It also is more likely that the employee
can live Iar Irom the actual location oI the business Ior which he or she is working
because Iace to Iace contact at the location may not be necessary.

IDENTIFY ISSUES
O It is legal to hang your shingle or sign at home? This is one oI the many
possible restrictions on your being permitted to make your home a working
castle. Whether and how Ilexibly you can operate a business Irom your home
is covered in local zoning ordinances and also by the covenants, codes and
restrictions (CC&Rs) oI homeowner and condo associations.

O ow are you going to separate your home and your workplace? While the
demanding hours required to start any business aIIect an entrepreneur's
Iamily, when you bring the workplace into the home, your Iamily's needs
must be taken into account even more.

O ow are you going to establish and maintain a proIessional image? This is
especially important iI your address is on Cow Path Lane, your dog loves to
bark, or your teenager loves to play his drums in the room next to your home
oIIice.






COMPANY CASE
mployers were appalled when a New Jersey appellate court ruled recently that an
AT&T manager's extended time sitting while on the job contributed to her death,
entitling her spouse to workers compensation dependency beneIits. Cathleen
Renner's dependents essentially claimed that the AT&T employee oI 25 years
worked herselI to death by sitting at a desk, physically inactive Ior long periods.
The June ruling in James P. Renner vs. AT&T revealed that a medical expert
testiIied the she died oI a blood clot and pulmonary embolism caused by sitting
Ior long hours, although there were contributing Iactors such as obesity and her
use oI birth control pills.

It was the second recent workers comp appeals court decision I know oI to rattle
employers and involve employees working Irom home. While the New Jersey
ruling in Renner vs. AT&T did not address issues arising Irom the claimant
working Irom home, it oIIers an example oI how employers are more likely to see
workers comp cases involving mishaps occurring outside the traditional worksite.
So employers should get ready Ior such claims.

In May, I heard speakers at the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.'s
annual conIerence say that while employers will Iace more claims Iiled by
workers whose primary place oI doing their job is outside the traditional
workplace, a lack oI case law involving such workers comp claimants remains.
Then in June, Oregon's Court oI Appeals ruled in Mary S. Sandberg vs. J.C.
Penney Co. Inc. that the injury a salesperson suIIered when she tripped over her
dog while working at home arose Irom her employment. You can imagine how
that decision rattled employers and it represents early case law, at least in Oregon.
The ruling also should remind employers to consider appropriate risk management
strategies as more employees work on the road and Irom home. Fortunately,
disability and workers comp proIessionals already are considering such
employees. The Disability Management mployer Coalition just released a white
paper titled 'Virtual WorkIorce: The Changing Face oI Absence and Productivity
in the Technological Age. It provides employer case studies ranging Irom worker
home oIIice ergonomic assessments to absence management issues. While
employers will see more cases involving remote workers, not all will involve at-
home workers.

That is the case in the New Jersey court decision involving Ms. Renner, the
AT&T employee. Court records show she worked Irom home three days a week
and went into the oIIice twice a week. mployers and workers comp observers
who side with them expressed outrage over the court's ruling, arguing that just
because Ms. Renner was working when she died doesn't mean her work caused
the health problems leading to her death. Several argued that her employer didn't
strap her to a desk chair and Iorce her to stay seated the entire time she was
working, and that movement, such as getting up Ior a drink oI water, is known to
reduce the potential Ior blood clots.
Let it be a reminder that communications encouraging oIIice employees to move
about during the day also need to Iind their way to remote workers.
CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION
O Have a separate phone line for your business. While your second line can be a
residential line, opting Ior a business line will enable you to have one and sometimes
two Yellow Pages listings and will enable people to call directory assistance or use
internet-based Yellow Pages to Iind your business by name. These beneIits can easily
justiIy the additional cost oI a business line. Also, locate your business phone away
Irom household noise.

O Answer your phone in a formal and professional manner. II other Iamily members
answer your business line, make sure they do the same, including using your company
name. While you can use voice mail, like nearly every corporation does today, one
way oI gaining a competitive edge is to actually answer your phone or have someone
answer it Ior you. Customers and prospective customers almost always preIer to talk
with a live human being rather than deal with voice mail.

O Use voice mail to capture calls when you're away. Better yet, to give your callers a
sense oI more personal service, consider going a step beyond and using one oI the
personal communications assistant technologies like Oryx, or Personal Assistant.
These services provide callers with more choices and can help them locate you
quickly iI needed.

O Take care that your paper collaterals have a consistent, quality look. While you
can certainly design your own letterhead, envelopes, business cards, brochures and
invoice statements, iI you don't have a visual sense--and not everyone does--consider
using a proIessional to do your design work. You can either have the Iinal product
proIessionally printed or print items as you need them on your own printer. Try
coordinating your materials with your website Ior an even snazzier look.

O Make sure your business address is professional. II your home's street address is
something like Lazy Daisy Road, it's a good idea not to use it as the address where
business mail and packages are delivered. We recommend using street addresses Irom
a business district: You can rent Irom a mail-receiving service or an oIIice suite
complex. (II you do that, be sure your city doesn't make a physical inspection oI the
business premises beIore granting a city business license.) P.O. box addresses tend to
make clients distrustIul; you also can't receive Fedx or UPS deliveries at a P.O. box.

O Find alternative care for your kids. While many parents do care Ior their children
while working, you can't expect to work at 100 percent eIIiciency with children
underIoot, so consider other options. The most common ones are getting help Irom
relatives, using outside day-care services, or hiring a nanny to care Ior children while
you're working.
O Another less-used but creative solution is setting up a cooperative day-care
arrangement with Iour or Iive other parents who work Irom home and taking turns
caring Ior the children. You may only be able to work Iour days a week, but in those
Iour days, you can be more productive than you would be in Iive days with your
children competing Ior your attention.
O Set up meetings off site iI you live in an inconvenient location or simply don't have
enough space to meet with customers or clients in your home oIIice. You could either
meet at your customer's location or at a neutral spot like a restaurant.

O Dress professionally. ow you dress while you work at home aIIects how you Ieel
about your work and the image you project. While many people working in traditional
oIIices dress inIormally on the job, you may Iind it helpIul not to dress too casually.
While it may be Iine to work in PJs, chances are they're not the best choice Ior all-day
wear.




REFERRENCES

hLLp//wwwwomansworkcom/work_from_homehLm
hLLp//wwwenLrepreneurcom/encyclopedla/Lerm/82182hLml
hLLp//enwlklpedlaorg/wlkl/Pome_buslness
hLLp//wwwbuslnesslnsurancecom/arLlcle/20110717/lSSuL04/307179967