You hear the words “work from home” all the time; however, finding real companies that will provide you a steady paycheck can be frustrating.
Do not give up hope as there are many real companies that hire people to work from home both as employees and as independent contractors. This is a list of the top 5 best companies who have work at home positions.
These companies made the list because of their reputation, their job openings, the ease to apply and get started as a work from home employee...
1. Alpine Access
Established in 1998, Alpine Access has built a solid reputation in the work from home industry. The company has a reputation for hiring home based agents in a variety of roles, plus they're currently set to open positions in Canada so expect an international market soon.
The Financial Positives:
- You are hired as an employee of the company so you do not have to do your own taxes, have a tax ID number, etc.
- You are paid by the hour not by how many calls you receive.
- You receive a paycheck that is direct deposited into your account.
2. Arise
With Arise, their motto is to give you the freedom to work when and how long you want while earning a paycheck from home. They are a virtual call center which employs thousands of work from home agents for positions all across the board.
When you become a certified agent, you choose the companies you would like to work for and your weekly hours. They offer free live information sessions on their website so you can get more information before applying.
The Financial Positives:
- You are your own boss when it comes to how much you earn once you are accepted by Arise. You work as an independent contractor and you can choose which companies to work for and your hours.
- You can deduct expenses on your taxes for your home office and other fees.
- The potential to earn more based on the quality of your work.
3. West At Home
A leading provider of communication solutions, West At Home hires hundreds of home agents to work on an array of projects. This company has a brick and mortar location as well for agents to work at the call center, however, the main focus is the (At Home) branch.
With West, you are considered an employee and will earn a steady income. They offer paid training and a full interactive guide on their site about working from home.
The Financial positives:
- West offers both an hourly rate and a pay per call rate. The greater of the two is what you will be paid. This is beneficial as if you have a slow day with calls you will still receive a hourly rate, but if you are having a busy day, you will reap the benefits of a per call system.
- West offers discounted Medical and Dental insurance through a provider.
- You have the option of direct deposit or a Pay Card if you do not have a bank account elsewhere for immediate access to your paycheck.
4. Liveops
As one of the largest employers of work from home agents, Liveops has an established reputation within the industry. With over 20,000 agents and growing, they are always seeking new contractors to join their team.
Liveops is a BBB certified company and has been featured on news outlets such as CNN and Forbes Money. Working as an independent contractor means you are your own boss and can control your personal growth with the company.
The Financial positives:
- You are generally paid 25 cents per minute of talk time while some companies pay a base rate and a bonus for commission if you are working a sales geared company. By being a contractor, you can choose which companies you work for and therefore influence your pay.
- You have the freedom to work for other companies at the same time as you're not an employee. This gives you ultimate financial freedom as you can earn with other positions at the same time.
- You are paid 2 times per month usually by direct deposit or by a check sent in the mail.
5. Working Solutions
A force in the Work at Home industry since 1996, Working Solutions has contracts with many leading companies in the US to provide a 24/7 call center experience. Working Solutions employees thousands of work from agents that are highly educated and who are leaders in their chosen fields.
You're hired as an independent contractor and have the freedom to choose which projects you work with. Due to the level of experience being higher than other companies, the pay is also much higher with up to 30$ per hour depending on the type of work.
The Financial Positives:
- By specializing in a certain field, you have the potential to earn much more than usual at home positions.
- There is a paid referral program where you can earn for referring successful new hires.
- You are paid every 2 weeks and you can choose a Check or Direct Deposit when you have work completed.
As you can see there are several good options when it comes to finding work at home jobs that are both reputable and well paying. The trick is to look at the options and compare the different companies and what they offer in terms of actual work, hours, pay and the policies each company employs.
I hope you’re one step closer to figuring where you want to apply and which work at home company might be right for you!
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This guest article was written by Missy who works at home for various clients, including SEO Gareth, a freelance SEO Consultant. When she’s not writing for the web, she loves to walk, run, scuba dive and bike along the lakefront.
About Lynn Terry
Nice list, thanks. I would add Fiverr to this list, nice resource for additional income.
Hi, Sammy:
Fiverr is a bit different than the companies listed on this list, however they are great for outsourcing minor tasks and or offering them as a service.
Thanks for commenting, Sammy.
Cheers,
Missy
Great info! Definitely useful for those waning to work at their homes.
Glad you like, Justin. The companies profiled above all have been proven to be reputable companies and or at the very least worthwhile to try and apply to.
Thanks for the visit.
Missy- great guest post! Thanks for sharing these sites, I hadn't heard of most of them until now... Very useful!! 🙂
Awesome list, I've actually used a few on this list to great effect.
Thanks for shareing these other options as well. I'll check them out.
Useful review, but don't forget - they are offering 'Jobs', not real freedom 🙂
Hi, Tom:
Yes, you are right. Some of these companies hire employees while others independent contractors, so depending on what you seek as a work environment - one might be a better fit than the others. It pays to research and see which one is an ideal fit.
Appreciate your feedback. Thx!
I must say thank you very much for sharing. With all these scam sites floating around, its really frustrating and difficult to look for the real ones.
Hey, Josh:
That's the very reason I wrote the article. Cheers!
That's why I took the initiative and shared it with my folks and at many online places too. Thanks for replying.
It's always good to have an additional income stream from those companies. I myself do some freelancing from time to time. Although i didn't work with any of those companies, i got a great feedback about working solutions. I'm heading there to see if they accept international agents.
A few of my friends went through Arise and really enjoyed it. They were able to set their hours around their home life and earn extra money. Thanks for sharing this list Lynn
Hi, Edgar:
Let us know how it turns out for you if you decide to proceed with Working Solutions. Have a great day.
Missy
Arise is for real, I have used them in the past. LoinBridge is another good company that has great pay.
I clicked on the SEO Consultant link you provided and was taken to a landing page with this URL http://www.seo-doctor.co.uk/. Unfortunately when I tried the links on that page I got 404 errors for every one. How do you get any business like that. I was looking for an employment opportunity but I guess freelancers are SOL.
As far as the other options you suggested, these are basically telemarketers using what's known as "warm" leads as opposed to "cold" calling. Before one signs up they need to read the fine print in the contract because in all the phone rooms I worked your pay depended on closed sales. So a word to the wise check out the requirements first.
Very interesting topic, hope to try one of these work at home sites for some work at home job. Thanks
Call center work is GRUELING whether you work in an actual brick and mortar call center or you are working from one at home. On the WAHM boards, many ladies work these call center jobs from home. There is a lot to learn from their experiences. It's not all roses and often pays a lot less than the hassle the call takers must go through.
Some of these companies expect a specific computer set-up, so if you have an outdated computer then you may be out of luck. Many expect you to buy your own headset equipment. That can be costly. A good headset is not cheap. Many of these companies make you pay for your own background checks. Another company won't hire you if you have had a bankruptcy in the last 1 year. (Mighty have been LiveOps, but I don't recall specifically.
Many expect ZERO background noise. No cats meowing, no dogs, no kids, no lawnmower sounds from the outside. Many expect you to be available to work any hours they want. Some in the middle of the night. Some on holidays. Just like in a real life call center where they own your life.
The application and training for some of these place (online and offline) can take weeks. Just be prepared. It's not a simple apply and work type situation. If you can find just the right place with just the right rules/regulations that you know you can follow, then go for it. I researched this extensively because I have real life call center experience and I just could not handle all the requirements and the stifling restrictions for a work at home call center job which paid less in many cases (headset costs, paying own taxes, etc.) Just be diligent in researching the best opportunity for you. Some people find a good fit for them and some may enjoy the work. I got burnt-out on call taking after many years of doing that type of work.
The list in this article is a good place to start. There are many more that I found on the WAHM forums as well.
Those are all great companies-Working Solutions can take years to get on with them. Arise has large monthly fees for working with them from $19.95 plus different training fees. I am partial to LiveOps as I have worked for them for 5 plus years. They have allowed me to stay at home with my kids.
I think,it is good to work with these companies but the easiest way to earn money at your home is to join some freelancing sites.Make a bid there and earn money according to your skill.
I also agree with smith about to try freelancing sites, there are some reputed freelancing sites over internet like elance, odesk, scriptlance where you may try to get home jobs by placing a bid there. But you'll need to get prepared before starting there because you might face lots of competition.
I'm glad to see lists like these around. Finding a legitimate work from home job can be discouraging - and a lot of people give up the search before finding anything. Two other companies that hire work from home customer service reps are Amazon.com and American Express (they have posts up on Telesaur.com this week).
Landing the job is only the first step, but making the transition to remote work is the journey... I'd love to hear about the challenges that commenters face who are already working from home. Care to share?
Great Research Lynn... I'm sure many people will benefit from the money they can earn during these tough times... I offer a few other ideas that could help some of your readers that want to make some extra money if they have a little entrepreneurial spirit. I list the ideas on: http://WhyWorkOnline.com - One which I like a lot is for people who are artistic or good at creating catchy phrases for T-shirs, mugs, caps etc... It let's them set-up a free store full of all their free designs - without having to open a real brick-n-mortar storefront. I think many people, deep inside would like to start their own business - and this allows them to do it part-time without investing a dime!
looks like these are all call centers? -
I would also add Speak-Write to this list: http://www.speakwrite.com/TypistNav/Employment/index.cfm
It is transcription work and you are an IC.
But I was with them for years and so I can attest to their legitimacy.
Of course, contracting through them you won't earn as much as you would having your own business. But if you're looking to supplement your income it would be worth taking a look at them.
Great collection of sites.
Are you seeing more and more people wanting to work at home given the current economic conditions?
I know from where I am, I see this happening more and more! Everyone has taken on extra work to make ends meet or to meet family demands.
Hi Missy,
The list you have provided is great for those looking to focus on a telesales type business from home. I personally have been in telesales for over five years and it definately takes alot out of you.
I however like the way you highlight advantages of each opportunity and also more importantly how you advise all to research each opportunity diligently in order to find a perfect fit.
Thank-you for sharing.
Regards Carmen
A really helpful article Lynn! I would love to find Internet Marketing models to study. I realize you just put one down for us. However, I have been searching for detailed models. Is their such a thing. I have searched and have come up with nothing. Perhaps, you could suggest a specific Affiliate Marketing course. I have some seed money and would be happy to take any suggestions you have.
Thanks in advance,
Mike Bowling
Great list. Not to mention Freelancer and oDesk, they also offer different kinds of jobs that could either be on a hourly basis or on a fixed price basis. But your list is awesome and I might just check them out as well.
Great sites with descriptions of each. I always wanted to
pursue work at home, but with all the scams wasn't sure
where to look. Do you have the links to these sites or
any contact info? I am interested in getting more info.
Thanks,
Les
Hey Missy thanks for providing this information. I have quite a few people ask about working from home but I never trust any of the random sites you see out there.
What a great information. I am looking for jobs to do from home. This will really work. I like it.
I've tried odesk but seems it's not my call I've applied lots of times but no still no luck...
That is a great list of work at home call center jobs and it saves a lot of driving time that would normally be involved otherwise.
Hi..great article..but the problem is..there aren't many that hire people in India.
Can you suggest some site that wouldn't mind overseas recruitment?
Those are all excellent options for home call center/customer support type work! There are also lots of other options a person could consider too, like online tutoring and transcription. That's two other industries that are currently booming and there are more and more virtual jobs popping up within them all the time. Great list!