I know, I know…it’s October, and you’re wondering why I’m thinking about next year. The truth is, success in working at home requires keeping an eye on the future, and having a plan for the next few months. So we asked these work-at-home professionals what changes they expect to see in 2019. They share their ideas on what areas will see the most change, and what tools they expect to see increase in popularity! You can use these ideas to give you a head start in 2019.
Matt R.
1) I’ve spoken to several people about this exact topic. The consensus seems to be that coding is not just a future-proof career path, but it’s next on the list to go remote. As millennials want more freedom and want to work from anywhere, companies looking to retain top talents are going to be more open to the idea.
2) Freelance coders are already a thing and I think the number is going to increase exponentially over the next 5-10 years as the demand for coders continues to be high.
3) I think content agencies are going to start raising their rates. Mediocre content is no longer good enough. And if it is good enough for a certain industry, it likely won’t be for very long. In an effort to bring in better writers and keep their most talented on staff, I think we’ll start seeing an overall bump in pay.
Nate Masterson
Maple Holistics
@mapleholistics
Digital marketing is the cornerstone of E-commerce and we are currently witnessing a historical surge in companies expanding their marketing teams. This expansion has led to more and more digital marketers working from home at all hours of the day. Besides for the obvious advantages of working remotely, breaking away from the traditional 9-5 office marketing culture is especially beneficial in light of the increasingly interconnected global marketplace. Digital marketing requires teams of vigilant workers to both stay current and predict future trends by writing relevant content, manage social media, and optimize web pages.
Steve Pritchard
1) An increase in accountants working remotely– Most businesses now store their financial data digitally, and thanks to the cloud, accountants are able to access and work on this data from just about anywhere, as long as they have internet access. Staff can now collaborate on the same documents from two separate devices from two different locations at the same time, and can hold video meetings with ease to update their co-workers on progress and key issues. So what’s to stop them from working from home? A finance team doesn’t necessarily need to be in an office anymore, and many organisations are beginning to realize this. As working from home has become a more desirable feature of a job, some of the top financial companies in the world are beginning to allow their workforce to work remotely. Big organisations tend to lead by example, so as more of them begin to do this, the more SMBs will begin to do so as well. It’s not unlikely that this will begin to happen more, next year.
2) An increase in remote IT support workers- That murmur of conversation and activity you hear in the background of your phone call to IT support is going to become increasingly quiet and rare in the future. Thanks to new technologies, it is becoming much easier for IT workers to provide support, remotely. IT workers are now able to access staff computers remotely, with permission from the staff/owner, from their own device. This means that they can see the issue that they are encountering for themselves, look for the cause of the issue and look for a way to resolve it, without even having to use the device in question. This kind of technology means that the IT department doesn’t necessarily have to be office based anymore, so we will likely see an increase in IT support staff working from home in 2019.
3) Increase in popularity of project management apps such as Trello- Remote work forces still need a way to organise their work. As well as group phone calls and video meetings, they need a way to layout the projects that they’re working on, what tasks need to be done, and who needs to do them. Project management apps such as Trello and Microsoft Planner are therefore essential for WAH professionals if they are to keep their workload organised. Trello already has 1.1 million users, but as the number of WAH professionals increases, as will demand for an easy way to manage tasks and deadlines, so this number will likely skyrocket in 2019.
Matt Tant
1) It may be because of the industry we’re in, but I predict that healthcare is going to see a huge increase in work-from-home opportunities. We’re already seeing more and more doctors and nurses gravitate towards tele-medicine jobs since these opportunities provide more work/life balance than a traditional hospital setting, and tele-medicine allows those who live in rural areas to access healthcare more easily. Many industries have made the transition to the virtual model, and it’s only natural that healthcare will be next.
2) More people will use crowd sourcing tools to work from home. In the healthcare recruiting space, we’re seeing a greater number people create their own independent businesses to work for crowd sourced companies.
3.) We’re already seeing this trend, but I also predict that app-based WAH opportunities will only continue to grow, especially as influencer marketing becomes a more vital part of every company’s strategy.
Note from Leslie:
I’ll be honest, I’m not one for predicting the future. I also tend to be a late adapter. I am, however, a planner, and to do that, you have to have a sense of what’s coming. Here’s a few things I anticipate for 2019:
- Work-at-home jobs will continue to grow, but they’ll also become increasingly competitive as more people seek to telecommute.
- The need to use common online tools such as Google Drive (Docs etc), Slack, etc will be an expectation of many work-at-home jobs.
- There’s been a big trend recently towards funnels, which I see continuing into the new year. Funnels aren’t new and they won’t go away, especially with the increase in desire for passive income online.
- With millennials in particular, I see a bigger trend towards lifestyle entrepreneurship. These kids have a focus on experiences over money, and they’re extremely adept at technology. I see them using this to be digital nomads, or creating income that isn’t location dependent. However, I see this trend also growing with the over 50 crowd as they near retirement and want an income, but also, to enjoy life.
Do you have an idea of work-at-home trends coming in 2019? Let us know in the comments below!
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Work at home experts share their thoughts on what to expect in the work-at-home world in 2019, including trends and tools. @wfhoffice @mapleholistics @healinghols @matthew_tant #workathome #planfor2019 ” quote=”Work at home experts share their thoughts on what to expect in the work-at-home world in 2019, including trends and tools. @wfhoffice @mapleholistics @healinghols @matthew_tant #workathome #planfor2019 “]
