Working from home provides a variety of benefits and perks for individuals who prefer a nontraditional working environment. While some companies provide complete benefit packages to their W2 employees who telecommute including vacation and sick time as well as medical, dental and 401K plans, most companies who contract with independent consultants to provide services from their home offices do not provide benefits to those workers. There are some larger virtual call centers that employ virtual agents and leverage their large pools of work-from-home employees to offer benefits packages at discounted rates. However, this is not as common as most virtual workers would like it to be.

While independent contractors and some part time employees who work from home may give up traditional benefits, other perks can make up for the absence of medical, dental and 401K plans. Following are several attractive perks that are often offered to individuals who work from home.

Discounts

Many employers partner with other companies to provide discounts on computer equipment, office supplies, car rentals and more to their employees. In addition, some larger companies may provide discounts on merchandise from stores, theme parks or hotels that the company does business with on a frequent basis.

Income Tax Deductions

When people work from home, they are required to maintain an office environment in their homes with the necessary equipment and supplies to perform their job functions. The majority of their business related expenses are deductible from their annual tax returns and can help reduce tax liabilities or increase tax refunds. For example, computers, fax machines, phone bills and the physical office space in their homes where they work may all qualify as deductions on annual tax returns. Even the smallest supplies such as paper and staples can be deductible. A tax professional should be contacted to determine exactly what qualifies as deductions based on each individual's tax situation.

Lower Expenses

Some of the expenses traditional brick and mortar employees incur are unnecessary for virtual workers. For example, while an employee who works in a brick and mortar call center may have to purchase a complete business professional or business casual wardrobe, agents who work from home can work in their pajamas if they prefer. There is no dress code for people who work from home. Furthermore, there is no commute for people who work from home. Instead of waiting in traffic and paying high prices for gas, people who work from home walk just a few steps to their home offices and begin their days. Finally, when people work from home, they typically eat at home unlike people who work in a brick and mortar office environment and are more likely to eat lunch out at a restaurant thereby incurring higher daily expenses.

Flexibility

Often companies that hire people to work from home offer flexible schedules. In fact, scheduling could be flexible simply in terms of picking a weekly block of time to work that meets an individual's daily availability, or it could offer the ultimate flexibility giving the worker the ability to select their schedule each day in half hour increments and to change that schedule as needed. For more information on the scheduling flexibility offered to individuals who work from home, read my article Shift Requirements for Work from Home Call Center Agents.

It is critical to understand that working from home means giving up some traditional benefits in lieu of some unique perks. Each individual needs to evaluate what is most important to his or her own life in order to determine if working from home is the right choice.