I’m not sure there is anything quite as convenient as working from home. The flexibility is an ideal advantage to working from home especially when you consider the fast-paced, ever moving, modern lifestyle many people seem to lead.

There are so many advantages of working from home.

Just to name a few, you can save money, save time, work in a customized environment and spend your time with the people you care about.

Working from home could save you a bundle of money. Think about all the money you spend on gas. Consider the cost of your lunch and even your work clothes.

Depending on the job and age of your children, you may even be able to save money on babysitting.

Working from home saves you so much time, especially if you have a long commute to and from work. Consider all the time you spend in the car during the week.

Even if your place of employment is close by, you likely leave at least fifteen minutes before you need to be at work. That time adds up.

You also save time during your lunch break. You no longer need to figure out where you will be eating lunch or drive to obtain your lunch.

You can just walk to the kitchen and eat something. When you work at home your lunch break could even be used to complete light housework.

Working from home also allows you to work in a customized environment. You can be totally comfortable in your work environment, and not just because you can work in sweats. You can work in your desired lighting, temperature, and seating fixture.

You’ll also be free of uncomfortable conversations with coworkers and have whatever you need right there with you. You won’t need to worry about forgetting something you need at home.

Saving all that time and completing house work during your break, permits you more family time in the evenings. When you log off for the day, you just walk out of your office and spend time with your family.

There’s no long commute home, and process of getting comfortable when you get there. And this is really great because you are getting enough time to spend with your lovely family.

There are a few downsides to working from home. The first is that you will lose the time spent conversing with colleagues.

For many adults, especially parents, conversations held at work are the majority of their adult conversations.

Plus, working from home can get boring sometimes, leading you to take part in distractions during work hours.

But certainly, it has some great benefits too, which we have already discussed above.

If you are ready to take the plunge and begin working from home, you need to prepare a proposal and approach your boss with it.

Once you have your boss’s approval you can get started in mere weeks.

Dr Goali Saedi Bocci talks about the benefits, and potential issues, of working from home in this interview. Check them out!

METHODS THAT COULD HELP

You know what you have to gain by working from home, but how can you get the opportunity?

Basically, you will have to ask your boss to let you work remotely from home.

There are many businesses adapting to this form of work. In some cases, it is their main form of employment.

It can save the company money. They won’t need to rent out office space or pay electric, gas, and water bills for an office building.

If you want to work from home, you should first display these qualities. You should be driven, self-starting, focused, hard-working, and pretty good at what you do.

Demonstrate those qualities at work every day, and your boss should be willing to let you work from home. Ensure that you are prepared for the conversation.

Your employer will probably have a few questions for you. You will also want to make sure you are in good standing to ask your boss for a favor.

That means no write ups, or verbal warnings, and absolutely no recent call offs.

If your goal is to work from home than the following article is perfect for you.

I’ve created a list of seven methods to help you earn permission from your boss to work remotely from home.

Method 1: Be Confident

You want to work from home? You will have to convince your boss that you are capable of working from home. If you are going to convince him, you need to be convinced of it yourself.

Practice the conversation with someone that won’t judge you. Maybe your mom, dad, or significant other.

When you decide to ask your boss the question of whether you can work from home, you need to exude confidence.

You need to truly be confident in the quality of your work and in yourself. Work your strengths and understand what exactly you can do for the company.

The meeting will be a test of your preparedness. You need to appear completely calm, in control, and confident. Your employer needs to know that you are capable of handling the responsibility. You will need to be your own boss, and you need to demonstrate control.

Confidence plays a huge role in other people’s opinion of you. When you are confident people are more likely to trust you and believe in you.

Your body language communicates confidence. You need to keep your head up, back straight, and hold eye contact.

When people are unable to look people in the eye, or slouch over, it not only speaks for their confidence level, but it makes them appear untrustworthy.

Your employer is not going to give you the opportunity to work from home and basically be your own supervisor, if you seem untrustworthy, or incapable of handling the job.

Method 2: Prepare Yourself

Remember that conversation you were having?

The one with the non-judgy loved one? Keep them at your side because you have so much to prepare for.

You not only need to prepare to ask your boss the big question, but you need to prepare for the questions your supervisor is sure to ask you.

Prepare yourself ahead of time.

You should know what you will say whether your boss gives you the green light or shuts you down.

When you discuss working remotely from home with your employer you will need to know where the company stands on the issue.

Have a surplus of relevant company policies or related information, that will backup your request to work from home.

Treat this conversation with your boss like a business proposal. You want to tell your supervisor about how this will benefit them.

You should prepare a list of benefits for the company that you’re working from home will provide.

Consider any potential problems and come up with a solution. Your boss isn’t going to tell you know, if you’ve put the energy in and fixed any potential problems before he even had the chance to bring them up.

Matt Mullenweg shares a lot of work from home statistics. 

Method 3: Excel at What You Do

You should not be asking your employer to let you work from home unless you are at least proficient at what you do.

Once you begin working at home there will be less opportunity to learn and improve your skills.

Plus, there won’t be anyone around to answer any questions you may have. You would have to call someone and hope they answer.

If not, you would be waiting around until they got back to you with an answer.

You should excel at what you do if you’re going to ask your boss to let you work remotely from home. You should be very skilled at keeping yourself occupied and have a great understanding of what will be expected of you when you work independently from home.

This could be an incredible opportunity for you. Make sure that you are ready for it, by learning everything you can, while you have the chance.

If working from home is something that you consider to be a necessary change, then you need to be in a position where your boss would be in a tough spot, were he to lose you.

Be honest, and let your boss know if this is something that you need to do for personal reasons.

If you excel at what you do, your boss would rather let you work from home, then potentially lose you due to your decreasing employee satisfaction.

Method 4: Create a Plan

Creating a plan goes hand in hand with being prepared. Your boss will be extremely impressed with how well you thought out your proposal was.

After all, people don’t like to waste their time. Your supervisor will be grateful that you came to the meeting prepared with all of the necessary information, and answers to their questions.

In your plan you should go over the details of your potential work from home arrangement. You will want to write out the position you are requesting, as well as, the pay rate.

You should include where you plan to work at home, and what hours you expect to be held to.

Your plan should also contain any considerations that need to be made and what you will be able to offer the company, if you are granted the work from home position.

You may also want to include outlines, or guidelines, you plan to follow on upcoming assignments and ask your boss’s opinion.

The fact that you are still able to communicate your ideas and keep them informed while working remotely from home will work in your favor.

Creating a plan is a remarkable display of forethought and will impress your boss quite a bit. It may even be the difference in whether, or not, he gives you the go. It’s important to have a plan in place to show your boss.

This is because it will give him an idea of your efficiency at working from home and give him a quick preview of what it will be like.

Method 5: Develop an Argument

When I say develop an argument, I mean prepare to be shot down. Your employer may not give you permission to work remotely from home.

If this happens, you should be prepared to defend your request. Have reasons to back-up your request.

You may still be told no, but that doesn’t mean you will never be able to work from home, just not right now. In this situation, you should prepare for another conversation.

Wait a year. During this time, you will increase in seniority and skills.

If you take any sick days, use them as test runs of working from home. You can literally show your boss what it would be like and prove that you will be effective.

You can continue to work on your next proposal for another request to work from home in the future.

After a year has passed you will be in an even better position to ask. If you are denied a second time, you may want to consider how important it is to you that you work remotely from home.

If it’s something you know you want to do, it may be time to move on. Find a different job that allows you to work from home.

If your boss doesn’t immediately shoot you down, he will likely have some questions. You need to have the answers.

You absolutely do not want to postpone the discussion while you figure out your responses to his questions.

Use the questions to work to your advantage. If you’ve thought out your responses, you should have no problem convincing your boss of your ability to work from home.

He wouldn’t waste his time asking you questions, if he wasn’t considering the proposal.

Use some of Nicholas Bloom’s arguments for working from home found in this video!

Method 6: Consider the Effect on the Company

This is one of the most important factors in your boss’s decision. Your employer will not let you work from home if it puts a strain on the company or is not normally done.

Your boss is going to make the decision that he feels is ultimately the best decision for the company. Usually this decision has a lot to do with the bottom line.

You should be prepared for such a response. Consider the effect your working from home will have on the company. Write out any benefits you come up with.

This will highlight the positives for your boss. Plus, your boss may look upon you favorably because you will have done some of his work for him.

Another thing you should consider is the timing of your request.

If your boss is in the middle of a stressful situation, such as an audit of some sort, or if you’re in the middle of a huge project, it may not be the best time.

Try to ask in a period of down time. You should be finished with your current project, task, or assignment, and your boss should have a relatively clear mind when you broach the subject.

Method 7: Tell Your Boss

You have to tell your boss that you’re interested in working from home. Then your boss will give you a decision. How do you think you should approach your boss?

First, you should schedule an appointment with your supervisor. He won’t appreciate you dropping in to talk to him and expecting him to fix a problem of yours. Imagine, what if he was on his way out to lunch?

He would be furious that he had to work through his lunch break to have an unscheduled meeting with you. Your boss would not be in the place to grant you your request.

Second, gather your supplies. If you are looking at the meeting like a business meeting, and treating your request like a business proposal, then you need to have your information ready.

You’ve done all the research and gathered all of the necessary information. Now you need to organize it.

Prepare a meeting outline of sorts. The proposal should flow, with little opportunity for interruption.

Your boss can ask you questions at the end, but if you organize the information appropriately, he shouldn’t have room to question you, or deny you, before you’ve laid out all of your information.

The way you appeal to your boss will make a difference. If you are confident, and prepared, you can take control of the conversation.

This will increase the likelihood of you getting what you want- Working Remotely from Home.

Adwoa Dadzie will help you convince your boss to let you work from home with the tips in this video!

IT’S A BIG STEP

Congratulations! Working from home is a big step. You are responsible for yourself. You get to control the atmosphere you work in and avoid those weird co-workers.

You won’t have to brave the winter cold to make your way to work anymore. It’s a great opportunity, one that has heaps of benefits.

Working from home has become increasingly common in recent years, especially as technology advances, but you still need to be sure that you, yourself are ready for it.

Yes, you may need a quiet area to work, but you also need to have the right mindset to work from home. If you feel you’re ready for the responsibility than utilize the methods outlined in this article.

These seven methods are sure to land you that work from home position you’ve been yearning for. The seven methods outlined in this article could be consolidated.

To simplify this article, there is really only three steps to landing that work from home position and they are as follows.

1. Position Yourself Appropriately

Be confident and excel at what you do. These two tips play a huge part in positioning yourself appropriately.

You need to make sure that your appearance is perfect. You don’t want to ask for a favor after you made a mistake. So, make sure that your work is impeccable and be confident.

Being a great employee and being confident in yourself and your work will play a huge role in your employers’ decision of whether working remotely from home will be a good fit.

2. Ensure You Are Completely Prepared

I cannot emphasize the importance of this step enough. You need to inform yourself and create a plan to ensure that you are completely and entirely prepared. You need to put some thought into this decision.

Don’t ask your boss for permission the day that you decide this is what you want to do. Take notes and write up a proposal. Only then are you able to meet with your boss.

When you approach the subject phrase it appropriately. You don’t even need to ask, just tell your boss that it is what you are planning to do, then tell him your plan.

3. Ask Your Boss

Obviously, you haven’t done all of this research, and prepared a discussion for nothing. The final step is to ask your boss, but you have to do it the right way. That means setting up a meeting, a legitimate meeting.

You are discussing business, so the two of you need to sit in his office and talk. Make sure there are no distractions, on your end and on his. Pay attention to timing and try to have this discussion during a convenient time.

Be confident when you approach your boss with this request. You need to smile, be friendly, and confident. You’ve got this!

CONCLUSION

Once you’ve completed these three steps, you should have that work from home position you want.

Be responsible.

People underestimate what a huge responsibility working from home is. It can be distracting, working from home. You can handle it, just stay focused.

How to Ask Your Boss to Let You Work Remotely Full Time

Comments are closed.