With the rising
popularity of online jobs, one can’t help but wonder how
lucrative it is and if you can make money online through
such jobs. Do they really pay well and are these worth leaving a
nine-to-five job and staying home to work instead?
For stay-at-home moms,
persons with disability, retirees, and those who are young but
need to stay at home to take care of sick members of the family,
there isn’t much choice. For these people, earning can be a good
incentive for the time well-spent, but for those who are in it
for the money, online job salaries are important concerns that
need to be negotiated well with prospective employers.
How Are Online Jobs
Compensated?
There is no denying how
easy it is to make money online these days. Nevertheless,
with the various jobs available on the Internet, it is actually
hard to pinpoint the prevailing salary in the market today.
While there are certain websites that can give you information
regarding the standard salary rates, the popularity of
outsourcing has dramatically reduced the pay range, especially
for online workers from the Far East.
A job applicant is
advised to benchmark the salary by validating the job content.
With the global culture evolving on the Internet, there are many
different cultures, customs, and traditions influencing job
descriptions — such that there is a need for clarification in
order to foster understanding between contracting parties.
To help people who
make money online deduce whether they are being paid fairly
or not, World at Work, a company touted as the authority on
compensation matters, suggests the following glossary to define
the four fundamental elements of cash compensation paid by
employers.
• Fixed pay is also
called “base pay.” This is the mandatory compensation. This is
not changeable regardless of the performance level or results
achieved within a specified period.
• Variable pay is also
referred to as “pay at risk,” which means the pay is not fixed
and the pay changes depending on the agreed level of performance
or results achieved. While jobs of this type are another way to
make money online, the fee is typically paid just once
and repayment would require doing another job of a similar or
different description depending on the agreed stipulations in
the contract. In short, there is no guarantee of long-term
income.
• Long-term incentive
pay is actually a type of variable pay that is designed to
recompense performance over a year. These have the following
common forms: stock options, restricted stock, performance
shares, performance units, and cash.
• Short-term incentive
pay is also a form of variable pay. It is considered short-term
incentive when the compensation is intended to cover a period of
a year or less.
From Meager to Bountiful
The good news for those
who desire to make money online is that just like in the
real world, there is a wide range of online jobs and salaries —
and these vary immensely. There are jobs that pay less than $30K
to more than $100K. However, outsourcing to countries where
online workers accept salaries that is just a fraction of these
rates is changing the culture of online compensation.
Nevertheless, this is
not to say that all jobs on the Internet pay measly fees. For
instance, there is an explosion of new health care jobs.
Home-based doctors and radiologists are hired by online
companies and are able to make money online by performing
online imaging and diagnosis to review and make medical
assessments. These professionals earn up to about $4K per week
aside from a bounty of fringe benefits and bonuses. Professional
nurses working online and/or are home-based can do telenursing,
advising patients about health concerns over the Internet. By
doing this, they can earn more than a thousand dollars a week.
Of course, the
blue-blooded royalties of the Internet, the IT specialists,
belong to the ruling class. They are characteristically made up
of the bright and young workforce that pumps the blood of the
Internet. Reports say that computer software engineers who
make money online earn an average of $1,549 per week and
approximately $85,000 a year. Meanwhile, computer scientists,
programmers, and systems administers earn around $1,200 a week.
Online jobs can be
lucrative. However, if you have special abilities or skills that
are in demand, you can expect to get paid more.