Right about now, if you’re toughing it out through another miserable winter, you might wish you could commute to work without leaving the house. Maybe you can.
According to FlexJobs’ third annual list of the Top 100 Companies to Watch for Telecommuting and Remote Jobs, its database of more than 40,000 employers posting want ads for telecommuters grew 36% over the past year, after a 26% increase in 2014. Although the list includes companies of all sizes, big names like Apple, Dell, IBM, Aetna, ADP, and UnitedHealth Group are among those posting the most jobs that allow people to telecommute full-time.
Remote workers are especially welcome, FlexJobs reports, in these seven fields: computer and IT (Dell, Apple, IBM); medical and health (UnitedHealth Group, Aetna, Cigna); sales (American Express, Appen, General Electric); administrative services (Kelly Services, Healthfirst, McKesson); customer service (Sutherland Global, Amazon, LiveOps), education and training (Connections Academy, K12, Kaplan); and marketing (About.com).
Employees in some job categories—like writers, engineers, software developers, and sales reps—have worked beyond the four walls of an office for years now, of course. What’s new is the number of companies looking for managers who work remotely, like a vice president of banking at SAP, a medical director at Aetna, an “at-home manager of phone teams” at Apple, and a director of new market services at UnitedHealth Group.
Maybe that’s not so surprising, given the currently tight market for talent. With the right candidates for some jobs so few and far between, why let a pesky detail like geography stand in the way?
Dell, for one, is “seeing great results” from telecommuters, says Jennifer Jones Newbill, whose title at the company is Senior Manager of Global Talent Attraction, Engagement, and Experience. Hiring people to work from home “helps attract a wider, and potentially more qualified, pool of candidates.”