by Sharon Bishin, Corporate & Employability Trainer

There are many reasons people want to work at home. “It’s amazing”, says Meryl. “I have no commute, I save money on clothes, have a chance to throw in a load of wash on my break, and get to look outside at my own front yard throughout the day.”

‘Working from home’ is a description that covers a variety of definitions or situations, however, a Statistics Canada 2008 report stated that close to 60% of self-employed workers (as opposed to those who tele-commute from a job) do so at home – about 1,842,000 people. So, even though approximately 15% of all workers in Canada are self-employed, they account for about one-half of those who work at home – slightly more women than men. Certainly, too, there are many people who use home-based work simply to augment other income streams.

One big challenge, of course, is to weed out the scams from the real opportunities. That’s where the EEC comes in. The Ontario-based Employment & Education Centre (EEC) – www.eecentre.com, in conjunction with CERIC (Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling), researched the subject and developed a training program which is designed to help individuals learn how to seek legitimate home employment opportunities, while avoiding the pitfalls of online scams.

From this initiative comes the question: Are there really legitimate opportunities to work from home? The answer is a resounding yes. The number of employers and independent contractor relationships as well as the variety of the skills needed was a surprise to the EEC. And Ometz is passing on that information to you. Wednesday, June 11th, Ometz is hosting the first three hour “Legitimate Opportunities to Work from Home” workshop: (http://www.ometz.ca/event/legitimateopportunitiestoworkfromhome-4242/) complete with more than 50 pages of handouts that detail sites and information about more than a dozen possible work options including telephone-based work, becoming a virtual assistant, transcription and developing e-learning opportunities.

I have been certified by the EEC to deliver this workshop and look forward to seeing you, or answering any questions you may have: [email protected]