Teleworking is the new nine-to-five As well as a more relaxed working environment, teleworking means staff who aren't obliged to commute to work spend the beginning and end of their days more productively, giving companies an average of an extra 60 minutes benefit a day. (Jul. 2003 IT-Director)

Court Denies Out-Of-State Telecommuter In-State Unemployment Benefits In the just-resolved case, a former employee argued that after voluntary relocation to Florida, her work actually took place on the New York-based mainframe; the company provided her internet connection, and the employee kept regular office hours and adhered to the company's employee performance rules. (Jul. 2003 TechWeb)

Ten reasons it’s better to be a contractor than a permie 10. No team building days – Leave the permies to play cub-scout games with each other in the bush. 8. No performance reviews – You get to skip the humiliation of writing three paragraphs on "What I did to improve my efficiency over the past year". (Jun. 2003 BrainBox)

Contractors doing it tough in IT downturn IT contractors are being paid less, with positions such as senior systems analyst down as much as 19 per cent over the year to March. Base salaries for incumbent IT employees have increased by an average of 3.6% over the year to April while the value of total remuneration packages has increased by 4.1%. (Jun. 2003 Sydney Morning Herald)

You’re On Your Own Long-term IT contractors are experiencing previously unheard-of prolonged unemployment. I hear quite often now from people with great skills and long years of experience as contractors who have been out of work for a year or more and are panicking. Some have never been out of work this long in 20 years. (Apr. 2003 Software Development)

Jobs hope for IT contractors If you're an IT contractor "in between jobs" here's a crumb of hope. Almost two thirds of companies reckon they'll hire contractors. Companies aren't confident enough yet to recruit permanent staff, but are hiring contractors instead. (Apr. 2003 The Register)

Who's hiring In large companies – those with more than 500 screens – hiring of both contractors and full-time staff is declining. Last year, the average number of staff in these big organisations was 138. By 2004, this average is predicted to drop away to 131. For contractors trying to get work in the big end of town, the outlook is grim with the average number of contractors falling from 26 in 2002 to 18 in 2004. (Feb. 2004 MIS)

Online Collaboration: Virtual Workspace for Project Management With a common Website devoted to the team, members can proactively go and get information and post information on a regular basis. This keeps the information flowing to all involved parties without having to track people down, publish memos, leave voice-mail messages, or call meetings. (Jan. 2003 Office Solutions)

The Applicant Who Got Away Even the jump from contractor to staffer doesn't always work in this market. One company wanted a programmer with the rare mix of strong Cobol skills plus up-to-date Java skills. But it wouldn't consider candidates with contracting backgrounds, out of fear that once the market improves they'd return to more lucrative and flexible freelancing careers. (Jan. 2003 InformationWeek)

Teleworking Boom Causing IT Headaches IBM reports that workers going remote saves the company more than $1 billion over a 10-year span. By 2006, the fundamental work unit will be a virtual team. And take note that a teleworker is not exactly a telecommuter. (Jan. 2003 Datamation)

Hit Hard by Recession, Women IT Pros Regroup A year ago, if someone had skills, they could work from home. Now, there's something about economic pressure that sends people back to the Henry Ford assembly line model of being in the office full time. (Mar. 2002 eWeek)

Where Does H-1B Fit? The anger and frustration of some unemployed IT workers is palpable. One mainframe consultant with more than 20 years of experience in Cobol and CICS (who insisted on anonymity) says he's been looking for work in the Boston area for more than 15 months without success. (Feb. 2002 InformationWeek)

Happy Homeworkers Teleworking is most often found at either a very small or very large company, with teleworkers holding a managerial or sales position and earning $40,000 or more annually. Teleworking is most common within real estate, management of enterprises, and the information industries. More than two-thirds of teleworkers express greater job satisfaction. (Oct. 2001 ITAC)

Dial-in desired The IT department's in-office person handles network operations. The home-based telecommuter is freed up to work on separate long-term and short-term projects. An unexpected bonus with the arrangement: immediate improvement in the department's productivity. (July 2001 InfoWorld)

Freelance Talent In High Demand Despite Soft Job Market Freelancers often are more motivated than internal employees, because they want to make a good impression, and turn in high-quality work so they can retain the account. Internal employees, especially those who are working for poor managers, may complete assignments with less enthusiasm and professionalism, simply because they can, and still keep their jobs. (May 2001 Freelance Job News)

Do you know the rules and manners of an effective virtual meeting? You may ask why we need special rules for virtual meetings. Easy. Ask me or anyone who lives and dies by telephone conferences: We have to replace the nonverbal clues that drive face-to-face meetings but which are lost over a telephone line. (Apr. 2001 InfoWorld)

U.S. slump poses threat to Indian programmers The effects of the U.S. slump will be felt most keenly in India by the "body shops" that send Indian software engineers abroad on visas. Software professionals sent to the United States by such businesses are paid in India at local wages. About 45 percent of H-1B visas are held by Indian software engineers. (Apr. 2001 EETimes)

Outsourced IT Workers Feel Anger, Frustration For farmed-out employees, pay goes up a little, benefits get trimmed a little and seniority is lost. Work is now judged by how well they stay within the bounds of the outsourcing contract, not necessarily how well they deliver IT. Ideally, the two are one and the same. But, realistically, they aren't. (Mar. 2001 Computerworld)

Virtual teams going global Virtual teams are more productive than working in an office. There's increased employee satisfaction, and it saves the company money in real estate and facilities costs. But not everyone embraces the virtual team work model. The boss may like having workers in the office because, in traditional thinking, it's easier to monitor employees' work habits that way. (Nov. 2000 Infoworld)