3 Simple Steps To Convince Your Boss To Let You Work From Home

Sometimes that extra hour of sleep that you get when you don’t spend it getting ready for and commuting to work makes all the difference.

Working from home has more perks than that, though. You can always make your own lunch, thus saving money by not eating out, and you can commit to working out everyday because you have all of your workout clothes right there at home.

A 2015 study by Workplace Trends found that 75 percent of employees ranked workplace flexibility as the “most important benefit” even though 50 percent of employers thought it was important to their employees.

This means that bosses are often unaware that their employees might be happier working from home occasionally. So, if you are part of that 75 percent who would enjoy sometimes working from home or, maybe, permanently, here are some simple steps to convince your boss to let you work from home, according to the Penny Hoarder.

1. Study Up

Before you talk to your boss, talk to other friends or coworkers who are already working from home. If some of them didn’t start out working from home, figure out how they made the transition. Brush up on tools for successful telecommuting and become an expert at using services like Google Drive and Dropbox, which allow people to share and view files pretty seamlessly.

About Money has a great page on how your employer could implement a telecommuting program. Some of the questions on the page, such as “Is there a fairly clear division between in-person work and solitary work so that the job could be done part time from home?,” will also help you decide whether working from home would actually be possible for you.

If you need to be able to chat or exchange information easily, think about using Skype or Google Hangouts. Or, if your team needs to be able to chat with you and have multiple people involved at once, try Slack.

slack photo
Photo by Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta

2. Explain The Benefits For The Company

Sure, there will be benefits for you, but your boss will be more interested in hearing about the benefits for the company. A 2014 study, for example, found that employers at a travel company completed 13.5 percent more calls per week than the staff in the office did, according to the Harvard Business Review.

That means that the employer almost got another workday out of the home workers. You might couple this info with how you would be more productive from your own home.

The same study also found that the company saved an estimated $1,900 per employee on furniture and space. And many studies have found that employees who work from home take fewer sick days, which makes sense because there are often times where you feel well enough to work but shouldn’t be exposing your coworkers to your small cold.

Studies have also found that telecommuting employees are often happier and they stick around longer than employees who are forced to come into an office every day. The Penny Hoarder suggests making it clear that you’re not quitting if you can’t work from home (unless that’s really the way it is).

Last, there are positive environmental impacts to working from home, because you’re buying less gas and thus reducing the pollution that your car is contributing to the atmosphere. And your office will use less electricity if you’re not working at your desk every day.

office call photo
Photo by alanclarkdesign

3. Make Your Case

Now, gather all of the studies or graphs that you find online and present your proposal to your boss. If your boss is worried about the situation, offer to start working from home just one or two days a week, and gradually increasing from there.

Further, tell your boss that you’ll work from home on the least hectic day(s) of the week for your company.

Also make it clear that all of these benefits come at a pretty low risk, because you can always come into the office should your boss really need you there.

home office photo
Photo by DavidMartynHunt

On your first day working from home, though, be sure that your boss or the people who consult you often can reach you easily on one of the chat programs above so that your boss has nothing to worry about. You’ve got this!

Photo by …love Maegan

Life, Work
,

Related posts

spin cleaning brush, instant pot, zulay apple corer
18 clever gadgets that will save you time and boost your productivity
stressed office worker
Return to office mandates don't make companies more profitable, study finds
woman writing in planner or journal
10 paper planners to help you get organized in 2024
Henry County Library work and play station
Library's 'work and play stations' let toddlers play while parents work

About the Author
Josephine Yurcaba
Josephine Yurcaba is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer. She specializes in lifestyle content, women's issues, politics, and New York music. She has written for Bustle, The Daily Meal, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone.

From our partners