Approach your boss about working from home

So you want to work from home? Sure, why not right? Well, "why not" is the easier question to answer here, but when your manager asks you "Why should I allow you to do that?" what will you answer?

Here are a few pointers to make sure that you are prepared when you get that question, and you will get it if you choose to pursue working from home without changing jobs.

Like most things in business, showing your boss why granting your request, any request, is good for him or her as well as yourself is paramount. If there is no benefit to granting the request, you really have not answered the "why?" question at all.

So let's look at 'why' by breaking it into two categories, benefits to the organization and benefits to the individual, and they don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Benefits To The Business

• Cost Savings - If you don't lead off with this one, you're really setting yourself up for failure. Take a look at the total cost of having an employee in the office, beside the obvious rent/utility expense, there are the often overlooked expenses of building security, insurance, benefits like food/drink subsidy, on site gym, day care etc and the big one people most often miss, liability. When you are in your company's building, they are liable for your safety and security, if you are in your own home, they get to transfer that liability to you. So for an employer who has more than a few people in one spot, this can be attractive. Present these cost savings along with your best estimates to your management and see if you can open their eyes a little to the somewhat hidden benefits of having fewer people on site.

• Employee Satisfaction and Retention - This is another big one, for both the employer and employee. If you're asking for it, it will obviously make you happy, but for the employer, it can help retain and attract top talent. Having a defined program in place so that people know they will have an opportunity to work from home is a great benefit that many people will value highly, and that value goes up every time gas pries increase and traffic gets worse. A good way to present this is to highlight success stories from other companies in your industry or field and to cite examples from recruiters who can tell you how highly talented job seekers value working from home. Here are a couple great examples of things to site:
• Since I'm in Massachusetts, and in software, here is an example local to me: Software firms enabling Work from Home
• If you're company is environmentally focused, some good stats here: Telecommuting an environmental success story
• And if a they need to hear is 'everyone else is doing it' try here for loads of good stats: TeleWorkResearchNetwork

• Productivity - If you are in software development or software production support, working from home can give you the flexibility to work when you are needed, not when the office is most full. If you have offshore developers you can meet with them, if you have production issues come up late at night you can deal with them, if you have things happening in your life to deal with, you can do it without losing a whole day in the office. Its has been demonstrated (and I can confirm through personal experience  that you will work more and work more productively if you are free to do so when the moment is right and not just between 8am and 5pm. I know this does not apply universally, but in my SQL Server jobs it has always been to the company's advantage that I could just go downstairs and turn on my computer when I get a page instead of having to get dressed, pack up and drive 30 mins before I can even start working the issue. 
• Research on the hours people tend to work at home compared to at the office: BusinessWeek

EDIT - I don't think I made my point clear enough yesterday, I think the best way to get the answer you want to this and almost any other request at work, is to present a case that is already closed. By that I mean you need to package up the benefits and savings in a way the person you are asking can understand and use, and you need to anticipate their questions and objections and have those answers ready as well. By being prepared with facts and case studies, and an impassioned personal plea, you will have given them all the material they need to make the best decision, or to present your case on your behalf to decision makers. Leaving things open to interpretation or assumptions is your worst enemy here, because people can and will assume the worst.

Click here to proceed to Part 2: Benefits to the Employee

Approach your boss about working from home, Part 2

Telecommuting benefits to the employee, this is what its all about right? Here are some of the benefits to the telecommuting employee, remember to mention to your boss that a happy employee is generally much more productive when you are going over your reasoning for working from home.

• Cost Savings - This is the big one and really is enough for most people without any other benefit. Lets quantify it a little more specifically, if you drive 45 minutes each way to work, 5 days a week, in a moderately large metropolitan area, this could be your savings:
• Commuting: 90 mins a day is about 90 miles at 25 mpg = 3.6gal/day times 5 days a week = 18 gallons a week at about $3.95/gal for a total of $71.1/week in gas. Substitute your train/bus fare here if that's your transport of choice.
• Even if you bring lunch you are bound to spend about $30/week on food and snacks
• If your employer does not offer free parking include that here
• If your car insurance could be lower due to fewer miles driven, lets say its a 10% discount on about $150/mon for insurance that's $180/year
• Clothing is another big one, f you could wear casual clothes every day instead of buying suits/business casual attire, what would you save? add in dry cleaning savings as well, lets figure $50/week for clothing and cleaning.
• Wear on your vehicle, this is variable but if we are using 90 miles/day in our example lets use the federal mileage rate of 55.5 cents per mile, that's $250/week in car repairs and maintenance.
• So lets add it all up and we get about $400/week in costs saved associated with going into an office, and we didn't even get into the possibility of deducting some expenses at tax time for your home office.

• Time Savings - This is the other big item for employees, imagine if you got back all your commuting time to do with what you please. This will vary from 20 mins a day to 2 hours, plus all the hassles associated with parking, bad drivers, stopping for gas, getting tickets and the general stress of being in your car for 1 to 10 hours a week. You could spend it playing with your kids, doing work around the house, working out, writing a blog or even working on work! Again don't forget to mention to your boss that a happy employee is general more productive and less likely to leave for seemingly greener pastures.

So to summarize, when approaching decision makers with your request to work from home, make sure you are clearly demonstrating why its good for both parties, and what the benefits will be for the enterprise if they should agree to it, and be ready to answer the 'Why?' question with facts and well thought out arguments. If you are offered a trial run or a part time option to work from home, I would consider this a win and take it while graciously thanking your boss for the opportunity, because after time passes and they get comfortable with the concept you can easily have the 'full time from home' conversation again. 

If you are heading down this path and want my opinion on your particular situation as an experienced teleworker, please leave a comment, and Good Luck!

Go back to Part 1: Benefits for the Company