The recession, technology and attitudes about work-life balance have teamed up to change the world of work.

The Kansas City Business Journal cited a new study by 7^th Sense Research which ranked Kansas City fifth for telecommuting among medium and large cities in the U.S. The top four were Boston, Raleigh-Durham, Atlanta and Denver.

In the study, full time workers who are not self-employed were surveyed. 60% who work for small businesses said they could do their jobs remotely and 72% actually prefer to work at home. Most participants in the survey stated that they are more productive when they work from home.

A White House Forum on Workplace Flexibility was held on March 31, 2010. CEOs and government officials discussed issues including ways in which technology can enable remote workers. A report by the President's Council of Economic Advisors which was released at that forum described benefits of remote working include "reducing absenteeism, lowering turnover, improving the health of workers, and increasing productivity."

At COMMWORLD, we have experienced the benefits of telecommuting technology to accommodate the medical issues of a staff member. Even though an employee may not feel up to working in the office, he or she may want to continue working on a part time basis from home during the recovery period. It can be very positive for the company and for the recovering employee.

There are challenges to address when considering telecommuting, but with the right technology, the remote worker can virtually do anything he/she could in the office. They can answer calls, make calls and access all the features of the in-office phone system. They can be on the network and access the company database and print to company printers.

It certainly is not the best choice for every position and it may not work at all in your company. But, let's face it. The way we work is changing. Does your company have the technology to support the change?

Skip to the Beep and Save Time...

Have you noticed that almost every time you call someone's cell phone, you end up in voice mail? You may hear their personal greeting or a system greeting similar to this... "Your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging system. At the tone, please record your message. To leave a call-back number, press five. When you finish recording, you may hang up or press one for more options." You might hear the personal greeting plus a system greeting. Don't you really just want to quit wasting time and get to the beep so you can leave your message?

David Pogue, a New York Times technical columnist offers this solution – press One, Star, Pound. On Sprint and AT&T cellular services, pressing the One key skips to the beep. On Verizon, it's the Star key and on T-Mobile, you press the pound sign. Pogue theorizes that by pressing the One, Star and Pound, you'll immediately hear the beep on most cell phone voice mail systems and be able to record your message. We tried the One, Star, Pound method on COMMWORLD's cell phones and it works!

Here's another time saving gift you can give to the people who call you. Change your cell phone voice mail greeting to give callers the secret code up front. "Hi, this is Linda. Press the pound sign to skip to the beep." Then if you want, you can go on and say whatever you normally say. Hurried callers will appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Courage to Change Now...

You've heard Einstein's definition of insanity. It's when you keep doing the same things that you've been doing but you expect a different outcome.

It's just not going to happen. If you want different results, something has to change. So, what's keeping you from making a change in your life?

The founders of OneCoach discuss how you can change your life for the better on CNBC's "The Big Idea" with Donny Deutsch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUa-IqCvKPU&feature=channel_page

To learn how OneCoach can help you change your life and your business, call Linda Bennett or Bob Bennett at 816-761-5100.

Solution for Long Distance Scam

In a recent COMMWORLD Newsletter, we alerted readers that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has learned that an old long distance phone scam is on the rise again. Certain area codes (809,284 and 876) appear to be domestic but they are actually expensive international pay-per-call phone numbers. The scammers get unsuspecting consumers to call these numbers through a variety of methods which all lead to high charges on the next phone bill.

What we forgot to tell you is that there could be a programming change on your phone system that will protect you against this scam. Contact our Service Department at 816-763-1100 to request this program change.

6 Energy Saving Reminders...

1. Plug your office equipment into power strips. This makes it easier to turn them all off when not in use. It also eliminates standby power consumption. Why pay for electricity you're not even using?
2. Unplug cell phones and laptops once they are charged, along with the battery chargers or power adapters.
3. Set your default print mode to print on both sides of the paper to reduce paper costs and save the trees that purify our air.
4. Save more on paper and energy by setting up distribution lists in your voice mail system. You can easily send a voice mail to everyone on the list instead of printing multiple copies for everyone in the office. (OK, you could also send an email to everyone, but we're a telecom company!)
5. Use technology to fax to and from the desktop. This saves time and paper. You only print the faxes that you must have in hard copy. You can forward the faxes to other people, save them in folders and treat them like emails. (Fax mail is part of Unified Communications – a powerful time saving technology.)
6. Turn the lights off in the conference room, break room, etc. when you leave.

Do Not Call Registry for Cell Phones...

Have you received an email saying you only have a limited time to register your cell phone number with the national Do Not Call Registry? We checked it out and there is no deadline and there really may not be a need to register at all.

A national cell phone directory will be compiled but the numbers will be included on an opt-in basis, so if you do nothing, your cell phone number won't be included. The directory is not intended to be published in hard copy or on the Internet and it is not to be sold to telemarketers.

FCC regulations are intended to block the majority of telemarketing calls to cell phones already. (It isn't a perfect system. I received one just the other day.) If you do decide to register your cell phone number, you can do it at any time and there isn't an expiration date.

Fun Phone Facts...

Alexander Graham Bell thought the best greeting on the telephone would be "Hoy. Hoy" instead of the typical "Hello". Early operators said something like, "Well, are you there?" which sounds rather rude. By 1895, telephone operators were answering with the phrase, "number please".

For many years, all calls were operator assisted. The earliest telephone operators were young men, but they were quickly replaced by women because the boys tended to be rude to callers.

Some of the operators got to know their customers and went above and beyond to provide extra services for them. They might provide a wake up call after a nap or a reminder call when it was time to take the roast out of the oven. Operators even acted sort of like baby sitters when a mother would leave the phone off the hook if she left her sleeping child in the house.