How To Convince Your Employer To Let You Work From Home

The Gallup's annual Work and Education survey done in 2007 found that American workers reported spending an average of 46 minutes commuting to and from work in a typical day. According to their study, that means US employees were spending approximately 92 minutes per day round trip on the road and 460 minutes a week in commuting to work. That's 7 hours of commute time a week! And then we  wonder why we never have enough time - it's being lost in trying to get to and from work! At times, all of us have dreamed of working from home. Aw the glorious thoughts of working in jammies, with a lap top resting on our laps, while lounge in bed. *deep sign*

In reality there are certain steps you can take to convince your employer to allow you take your position home.  Let's look at the most essential steps:

Step 1: Be Certain that You Can Work Remotely

• First and foremost you must determine if your position can effectively be done from home. 
• If your position in its current state is not be a good fit for working at home, can it be restructured to allow you to work from home? 
• Of course you need to analyze yourself to see if you have the self-discipline to work from home.
• You must consider if you will permanently work from home or if you will only work at home a certain number of days. 

Step 2: Acquire All Your Work from Home Facts

• Research to see if a work at home program already exist within your company. Contact human resources to check into this.
• Find out if there are other employees that work from home and get in touch with them. Discover how the began working from home and get tips and advice on how you can do the same.
• Assemble facts about you and your position that will make a compelling argument of your trustworthy  and self discipline to work remotely. Include facts about your performance reviews, how you will continue to positively impact your team, and what can you do to prevent problems.
• Compile facts about your employer and your industry. Offer suggestions on how allowing you to work from home will save your employer money.

Step 3: Create and Write a Work from Home Proposal

• You must have strong evidence on how allowing you to work from home will benefit the company- (e.g. increased productivity, cost savings, etc)
• What makes you qualified to work from home: your motivations, organizational skills, employment past, reliability, etc. How will telecommuting make you a better employee?.
• Show that you have thoroughly researched the advantages of allowing you to work from home. Include reports that demonstrate how allowing employees to work remotely make them more productive or how it saves companies money.
• Expect objections and concerns; be prepared for them. Concerns such as the security of your computer system, (anti-virus software, etc), other people having access to your computer, confidentiality of work information, distractions at home, being reachable for meetings or calls, may be raised by your employer.
• Provide the option of working from home temporarily, on a trial basic, so that your employer can monitor if this is a good solution.

While the idea of working from home is very enticing, not everyone is cut out for challenges of doing so. Before, making that leap to sell the idea to your employer, be sure you have a strong argument for your case. Simply using reasons such as long commute time will not be adequate. You knew when you took the job how long it would take you to get to work and back. It is not your employer's responsibility to accommodate you for this burden. However, if you can make a compelling case about increased productivity and cost-savings, then you may have a very strong case. Good luck in your efforts to take your job home!

Posted in: Tips and Resources,WAH Articles