Work At Home Schemes

In a bad economy, you might be tempted to try and make extra money at home. Countless work-at-home Web sites claim you can earn thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. But be wary. The Federal Trade Commission has gone after hundreds of work-at-home schemes in recent years. Consumer Reports looked at several current offers and can tell you what kinds to avoid.

For instance, maybe you’re handy and would like to assemble flies for fly-fishing or other products at home. Gone Fish’n Tackle Company promises to pay 50 cents per fly. But Consumer Reports says here’s the catch: After you pay for the materials from Gone Fish’n, you’d have to tie more than 30 flies an hour just to make minimum wage. A longtime fisherman says that even with his experience, he couldn’t tie that many good flies in an hour, and certainly not all day long.

Another site—MyEasyHomeJob.com—promises to teach you how to make as much as $350,000 a year stuffing envelopes and mailing company circulars. Consumer Reports paid $67 for access to a Web site that tells you how to place ads and ensnare other people in get-rich-quick schemes.

Then there’s Google Money Tree, which is not affiliated with the Google search engine. It claims its free CD will tell you an “amazing secret” of selling on the Internet. The information isn’t very helpful and if you don’t cancel within a week, the company will charge your credit card $72 a month for access to its Web site.

Consumer Reports says that before you sign up for any offer, check with the Better Business Bureau at: http://www.bbb.org/us/Find-Business-Reviews. It gave all three of those companies a big “F.“

Consumer Reports contacted all three companies, but only Gone Fish’n responded. A spokesperson says dissatisfied customers can get a full refund on the fly-tying kit within 45 days of purchase.

Workers give up pay to work from home

But while flexible working hours topped wish lists, most full-time Aussie employees don't have the resources to set up a home office.

Independent research commissioned by Citrix Online found 16 per cent of Australian workers and 17 per cent of small business owners would give up 5 per cent of their salary to work from home one to two days a week.

The main reason was "setting my own hours or schedule".

The Worldwide Workplace: The Web Commuting Imperative report also found mobile phones were the tool of choice for home workers Down Under, while US and UK counterparts preferred email and the internet.

Report spokesman Bevis England said a lack of understanding and commitment from employers and governments made it hard to work from home.

"There are multi-faceted benefits from working remotely from reduced traffic congestion and emissions to a better work/life balance and a happier workforce," Mr England said.

He said home offices could also help rural development.

Meanwhile, separate research released today showed one in two Aussie workers were regularly turning up to work sick because they feared being labelled a "slacker" or losing their jobs.

In another sign of the economic downturn, two-thirds of 404 Aussie workers surveyed by recruitment firm Robert Half admitted to spending up to two hours checking work emails outside office hours. 

Work from home challenges

Working at home is both a blessing and a curse for employer and employee equally. The perfect storm of position responsibilities, company culture and employee aptitude can make a work at home situation very successful. I find that a situation bringing all these things together is rather uncommon. So while many employees want to work from home part or full time, very few will actually succeed in doing so. A peer whose work at home situation is interfering with a team project or group goal should be addressed in the the same manner as any other non-performing employee. The issue of lack of performance should be escalated to her/your supervisor so management can look into it. Everyone has a home life, and often a busy one, but work at home does not mean work takes a backseat to home activities on those days. And as always when everyone is being respectful, it’s all good.

CONSUMER REPORTS: Sizing up work-at-home offers

In a bad economy, you might be tempted to try and make extra money at home. Countless work-at-home Web sites claim you can earn thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For instance, maybe you're handy and would like to assemble flies for fly-fishing or other products at home. Gone Fish'n Tackle Company promises to pay 50 cents per fly. But Consumer Reports says here's the catch: After you pay for the materials from Gone Fish'n, you'd have to tie more than 30 flies an hour just to make minimum wage. A longtime fisherman says that even with his experience, he couldn't tie that many good flies in an hour, and certainly not all day long.

Another site - MyEasyHomeJob.com - promises to teach you how to make as much as $350,000 a year stuffing envelopes and mailing company circulars. Consumer Reports paid $67 for access to a Web site that tells you how to place ads and ensnare other people in get-rich-quick schemes.

Then there's Google Money Tree, which is not affiliated with the Google search engine. It claims its free CD will tell you an "amazing secret" of selling on the Internet. The information isn't very helpful and if you don't cancel within a week, the company will charge your credit card $72 a month for access to its Web site.

Consumer Reports says that before you sign up for any offer, check with the Better Business Bureau at: www.bbb.org/us/Find-Business-Reviews. It gave all three of those companies a big "F."

Consumer Reports contacted all three companies, but only Gone Fish'n responded. A spokesperson says dissatisfied customers can get a full refund on the fly-tying kit within 45 days of purchase.

(Copyright Consumer Reports, All Rights Reserved)

FSA staff work at home as swine flu suspected

he Financial Services Authority (FSA) has asked 10 of its staff to work from home after a colleague returned from the United States with suspected swine flu.

The employee, who worked at the FSA's main office in London's Canary Wharf, was in the office for one day following his return.

"As a precaution 10 staff who were in contact with the individual have been asked to work from home for the next few days," an FSA spokeswoman said on Monday.

The financial watchdog said, as a matter of policy, all employees returning from either Mexico or the United States would not be allowed into the office for seven days.

Health officials confirmed eight fresh cases of the new H1N1 flu virus in Britain on Sunday, bringing the total to 55. The swine flu virus, which has around a seven day incubation period, has killed 45 people in Mexico. Everyone infected so far in Britain has had relatively mild symptoms.

'Mompreneurs' building businesses while staying home

Beth Adams spends the day fulfilling people's to-do lists, everything from cleaning closets to picking up prescriptions to buying flowers. Then the co-owner of a Baltimore-based personal assistant firm and mother of four returns home - where she runs errands at no charge.

"I'll have to take someone to the game, or I'll have to take someone to the orthodontist, or 'How come no one told me that we're out of dog food,' or 'When am I going to get my husband's shirt from the cleaners," said Adams, who could use a break this Mother's Dayfrom her jobs running both My Girl Friday, Baltimore and her own home.

Adams is among a growing sector of moms who are combining business dreams with multitasking skills to create an economic niche without leaving home. These entrepreneurial mothers - some call them mompreneurs - are infusing the marketplace with novel goods, services and approaches to customer service.

According to the Virginia-based Center for Women's Business Research, the number of women-owned businesses increased 32 percent from 2002 to 2008. During the same period, revenues generated by those businesses increased 48 percent and employment by such firms went up 27 percent.

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Working from home and capitalizing on low-cost marketing tools such as the Internet to build their companies, some have all but abandoned the corporate world. Meanwhile they try to ensure that their family lives don't suffer; some even involve their young children in the creative process. As they are not among the millions currently looking for work in the private sector, the entrepreneurial moms may end up helping to turn around the economy.

All while leaving time to get dinner on the table.

Sylvia Ann Hewlett, who directs the Gender and Policy Program at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and wrote The War Against Parents, says some mothers are starting businesses because the family sacrifices of more traditional work no longer seem worth it. Particularly on Wall Street, an area Hewlett has been studying, "with this downturn, not only is the money less, but women don't like the fact that this is a newly disrespected sector. Women like to be proud of the goods they make and the things they sell."

"A lot of people have been disenchanted with the corporate world because of layoffs, and instead of looking for another job, they've said that it's time to start something on their own," said Patricia Cobe, co-author of Mompreneurs: a Mother's Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Work-at-Home Success.

"Mompreneurs will be the force that moves the economy forward," added Cobe, who trademarked the term with co-author Ellen H. Parlapiano. "The old corporate model doesn't get it done anymore."

Instead of using traditional market surveys, these businesswomen often go directly to the source, chatting with potential customers on Twitter, Facebook and Craigslist.

Stacia Linz of Westminster, who does block prints on shirts and other apparel, launched her business three years ago because she got tired of clothes that cost a fortune, yet figured, "anyone can buy something from Walmart." Today, her Happy Tomato company supplements family income in a big way.

"It pays for summer camp, for swimming lessons, for winter coats and school supplies," she said.

Handbag maker Jennifer Scanlon of Rockville has used social networking sites to make sales. Recently, the owner of Henjen handbags received a Twitter message from a woman in Texas saying that she would love to get one of the handbags for Mother's Day, but could not afford its $75 price tag.

"I said, 'Well, I can do e-mail hints. Send me your husband's e-mail ... ' " said Scanlon. "So I sent him an e-mail and told him that a little chick told me that his wife likes this bag. A couple of days later, I got the order."

These business owners say the term mompreneur is fitting.

"For most of the women ... I've met in doing this, they are a mom first and are very proud of that," said Scanlon, a mother of three. "They bring [motherhood] along with them in their business and it's great to know that those numbers are growing and women are feeling that they can put themselves out there and not choose one or the other."

As soon as her two toddlers are ready for school, Jody Morgan plans to vault her custom jewelry design company to the big time. Until then, the Hanover mother is pleased that Zarobi Designs not only pays for itself at a time when economic woes make every dollar count but has also garnered the family some unexpected perks.

"Because I use my home for business space, we were able to claim on our income taxes a portion of the electric bill and mortgage," said Morgan. "We got a hefty return back and we bought ourselves a nice TV."

Sometimes, though, the needs of business and home still conflict.

Beth Williams of Monkton, senior executive director of Cookie Lee direct-sales jewelry, said her business allows her to set her own hours, but problems arise when she must attend out-of-town events. Last year, the mother of four missed her 5-year-old son's birthday weekend because it coincided with a business trip. She's also missed a couple of her children's big games.

Champaign employees could work from home

The city of Champaign is in the beginning stages of connecting city employees to a network that allows them to work from their home computers.
The online program, developed by Stoneware Inc., connects employees to the city's network in a secure manner, said Richard Schnuer, the city's finance director. Each user has individualized access. For example, the staff member who does payroll would be able to access the payroll program.
"What it allows us to do is without really installing any software on our users' computers, the ability to connect to applications internally and securely," said Joe DeWalt, the city's network engineer.
Schnuer said that Stoneware would be useful in case of a pandemic, such as swine flu.
"If something became serious, if it was really separate from the normal flu, we would want to keep people separated," he said. "In a case of a pandemic, you really don't want people getting together."
He said the program would also be useful in other instances.
"Certainly it could be something more common, such as just a bad ice storm, where it's not safe for people to be driving," Schnuer said. "And if we're encouraging the public not to drive, we certainly don't want city employees to be driving."
Though under 20 employees have Stoneware installed so far, DeWalt said he believes maybe 150-200 of the 600 city employees will get the software. He said at this point it will be used for more emergency-related situations, but eventually it will be simple enough that employees can use it for everyday work.
"We're just starting out on this," DeWalt said. "We're barely starting the project at this point. We're barely scratching the surface with what we're doing with this. It could really be used for quite a bit."
Michael La Due, councilman from District 2, does not have the software installed, but he thinks it will be helpful as long as employees do not use the software excessively.
"I think it's marginally helpful," La Due said. "I don't think it should exempt people from coming into work. I'd hate to think there'd be department heads that are hiding out at home working on computers. You expect people to be at work."

Work-at-home rip-offs rising during tough economic period

The Arizona Attorney General's Office saw a nearly fourfold increase in complaints involving potential work-at-home scams during the first months of 2009 compared with last year.
The increase is likely due to people's financial woes during tough economic times.
The schemes usually offer consumers an at-home job or business startup plan, promising large profits in exchange for a significant upfront payment, the office warned in a news release Tuesday.
During the first quarter of 2009, the Attorney General's Office received 848 complaints from people who think they were scammed this way, compared with 226 complaints in the same time period the previous year.
The Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona has witnessed the same trend, said President and CEO Kim States.
"People who wouldn't have given these scams a second thought a year ago are finding them a little more enticing this time around," States said.
Most complaints coming into the attorney general involve Internet-based companies. Victims told the office they got involved with the company to supplement income after a job layoff, losing money in the stock market or a resetting mortgage payment.
The "opportunity" requires consumers to pay an initial price or fee — often $500 to $1,000 — with the assurance they will quickly earn hefty profits. According to the attorney general, when the venture produces little revenue, the promoter pressures the individual to buy expensive advertising or marketing tools to make business more effective.
Once the promoter has the money, the consumer realizes the business venture is unsuccessful or produces a return much smaller than the startup costs

Don't fall for work-at-home scams

There are legitimate work-at-home jobs. But are you likely to find one in a job search now? • Odds are slim. One industry observer put the scam-to-legit ratio at more than 50 to 1.
Most people earning money in viable work-at-home jobs do so because they are self-employed, telecommuting or in a field office for the organization where they already were employed.
There are some real paycheck opportunities in such business models as remote call centers or transcription work. But these are not nearly as plentiful as frustrated job hunters would like them to be.
Unfortunately, every time the job market tanks, more unscrupulous work-at-home pitches emerge. Be ready to do research before you spend a dime or even a half hour pursuing a work-at-home ad.
Here's some advice to avoid scams:
• The Better Business Bureau warns never to send your bank account numbers, Social Security number, check or cash when you apply for such a job.
• The CanMyBossDoThat.com Web site of the Interfaith Worker Justice group says to be wary of any come-on that fails to give you an address, phone number and possibly even a name of the business or person.
• About.com's Work-at-Home Scam site warns not to believe get-rich-quick promises.
All experts agree:
• Work-at-home scams often are pyramid schemes in which you'll make money only by selling the concept or startup supplies to someone as gullible as you were.
• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Ask for references and dig deeply to make sure you're not talking to a shill.
Business models the experts say are particularly likely to be scams include envelope stuffing, assembly jobs, craftmaking, data entry, mystery shopping, coupon marketing and online ad posting.
Finally, if you do sign up for a work-at-home deal and aren't paid when promised, stop working and file complaints with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (affiliated with the FBI), the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau.