If you’ve been entertaining the idea of working from home, there are more opportunities than you might imagine. While it’s true it’s unlikely you’ll find a work-at-home arrangement in all the usual places, there are companies that specialize in the arrangement. It’s just a matter of knowing where to find them. And we can help with that!

Just days ago, the website FlexJobs, which specializes in work-at-home jobs, published its annual list of the 100 Top Companies with Remote Jobs [at the bottom of this article is a link to that list]. 

I’d have to practically write a book to cover the specific details of all 100 companies. But instead, I'm going to focus on the ten best jobs from home, drawing from that list.

This will provide a sample of how the process works, what you can expect, as well as the benefits the arrangements offer.

Let's look at the top ten best jobs from home from the FlexJobs list in some detail.

1. Appen -
Appen is a technology services company based in Australia. However, they have offices in the US and the United Kingdom as well, and provide opportunities in 130 countries around the world. The company works with some of the biggest companies in the world, including eight of the 10 top technology companies. It supports more than 1 million contractors around the world.

Appen offers positions that are flexible, part time, and home based. You can work either a few hours a week or full time. Positions are available in transcription, translation, linguistics, engineering, marketing, financing, and sales. They even offer micro-tasks, which are smaller jobs that can be completed from home in about an hour.

As you can see, not only do they have jobs from home available, but they also offer complete flexibility. You can choose your work, and your hours.

2. Lionbridge -
Waltham, Massachusetts-based Lionbridge has positions available that are part-time, freelance, and remote. Positions are available in banking and finance, engineering, gaming, global marketing, autos, legal services, life sciences, machine intelligence, testing, and translation and localization.

Translation services seem to be particularly common among remote job offerings. Given the growth of global markets, there's a pronounced need to reach and interact with customers in hundreds of local languages. Lionbridge employs more than 100,000 language experts, working in 15 different industries.

But that's just one example. Overall, Lionbridge works with over a half million people in 26 countries, most of whom work remotely. Like Appen, it's likely you'll be able to find a position that provides the kind of flexibility you're looking for, whether that's full-time or part-time.

3. VIPKID -
VIPKID is based in Beijing, China, but recently opened a US headquarters in San Francisco. The company focuses on providing English language instruction. Positions are available working remotely, either part-time or freelance. The website currently advertises pay at $22 per hour.

The service offers English as a second language to children in China, up to age eight. Teachers are English speakers who provide one-on-one courses based on the US Common Core State Standards. And as a teacher, you'll receive ongoing paid training as well as professional development opportunities. You'll be able to work from home, and choose your own schedule.

4. Liveops -
Scottsdale, Arizona-based Liveops refers to itself as ”The modern call center that isn’t a call center”. This should give you a strong indication of what they do, and how and where it takes place. The company doesn't have call centers in the usual sense, but instead employs over 20,000 independent agents, working remotely. As such, it also describes itself as the world’s largest cloud contact center.

The company specializes in providing agents for travel and hospitality, telecom, roadside assistance, high tech, retail, finance, health care, and insurance companies, and even the federal government. Work is available on both a full-time and part-time basis throughout the US.

5. Working Solutions -
Working Solutions is based in Dallas, Texas, and has been around since 1996. They provide home based customer service and sales agents. Positions are available for retail, telecommunications, finance, health care, travel, and energy. The company employees over 110,000 independent contractors from across the US.

You can work full-time, part-time, or freelance, and always remotely. Positions are currently available as customer service representatives, senior living customer care, seasonal customer service agents, and customer service representatives.

Working Solutions offers something increasingly unique in the employment universe. It educates its agents in a client’s business, at no cost to them, through Working Solutions University.

6. Amazon -
Seattle based Amazon is one of the companies most commonly associated with jobs from home. The company employs well over 90,000 workers, and is the largest online retailer in the world. You can access Amazon jobs from home on their Virtual Locations page.

Jobs are available mostly on a full-time basis. Current positions available include sales, advertising, account management, project/program/product management fulfillment and operations management, human resources, business and merchant development, operations, IT and support engineering, facilities, maintenance and real estate, and customer service.

7. TTEC -
Englewood, Colorado-based TTEC has been around since 1982, and is a business process outsourcing company. It provides services around the world, and operates delivery centers in 24 countries. TTEC provides work-from-home situations for consultants, customer service professionals, students, and veterans. In fact, the company employs more than 20,000 work-at-home employees.

Work can involve helping customers by phone, live chat, or on the social media. Naturally, you'll be required to have Internet access and a home phone. The website even indicates it's perfectly OK to work in your PJ's and bunny slippers.

Current positions available include business sales representatives, customer service representatives, and bilingual customer service representatives. Positions are available in the US and Canada. You'll be provided with proprietary technology that enables you to securely access applications, so you will be able to support and assist customers with a variety of services and technical needs. You must be at least 17 years of age, have a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma, and have wire connected Internet access.

8. Kelly Services -
Founded way back in 1946, Kelly Services is one of the more well established employment agencies in the country. It's also grown to be one of the largest agencies, with almost 500,000 workers using the service worldwide. In fact, the company now provides employment opportunities in nearly 30 countries.

In a real way, Kelly Services practically pioneered jobs from home, since it began primarily as a temporary job service. It now works regularly with some of the very largest employers in the country, providing staffing needs at all levels. They specialize in accounting and finance, administrative, automotive, engineering, information technology, life sciences, and call centers, but actually cover a multitude of industries and job classifications.

Kelly Services still handles temporary positions, as well as permanent ones. But they’ve adapted their business model to also include freelance, part-time, remote and work-from-home arrangements.

9. Concentrix -
Based in Freemont, California, and founded in 1983, Concentrix claims 90,000 employees worldwide. They work in a wide variety of industries, including health care, retail, transportation, e-commerce, insurance, technology, energy, and many others. Their specialties include marketing, analytics, technology, consulting, financial, and customer lifecycle management.

Like many companies that offer jobs from home, Concentrix also works globally, and across dozens of different languages. This naturally creates opportunities in transformative client services, particularly for those who are bilingual.

The company encourages work-from-home arrangements. They look for those who have solid communications skills, and are able to provide strong customer service. Positions are available both full-time and part-time, as well as seasonal and temporary. They even provide shiftwork, which makes abundant sense in a global workplace.

10. United Healthcare -
Health care providers are among the most common employers offering jobs from home. So it should be no surprise that United Healthcare is one of the top 10 companies offering work-at-home situations. Though health care typically involves hands-on work at a care facility, it also provides a surprising number of positions that can be handled remotely.

What makes even more surprising is the variety of positions available remote through the company. In fact, a search of their website using the term “work-at-home” turned up more than 1,000 positions. They include jobs in everything from customer service to clinical care. Nursing is naturally a common position, and one that’s often available on a remote basis. They’re often needed for online or phone consulting, both to provide clinical information and to direct incoming callers to direct care services.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United Healthcare has about 240,000 employees in all 50 states in the US, and in most countries around the world. It's one of the leading health care companies in the world, as well as being a rich source of jobs from home.

Final Thoughts on the Ten Best Jobs from Home
That’s just the top 10. If you don’t find one of those to work for you, there’s 90 more employers on the FlexJobs top 100 list. And if those aren’t enough, there are hundreds more.

The point is, jobs from home is no longer unusual. As the world becomes more interconnected, and more international, both the types of jobs needed, and the way they’re handled is changing rapidly.

Meanwhile, this spread of technology is bridging gaps across the economic landscape. The widespread availability of home computers and smart phones is connecting people all over the world. We now live in an economy of the 24/7 consumer, which means there must be someone else available on the other end of the transaction.

That’s where work-at-home jobs come into the picture. It’s no longer possible or desirable for companies to have all employees based in a central location. The ability to employ people on a remote basis frees employers of the need for costly physical space. And that’s where jobs from home enter the picture.

If you’ve been dreaming about a work-at-home situation, stop hoping and start searching. There are more remote jobs than ever, and the future promises even more.

100 Top Companies with Remote Jobs in 2019