Five Ways to Justify a Telecommute Job to Your Employer

Everyone wants to work from home. With advances in technology, that option is becoming more and more feasible for many office workers. Now people in many professions can coordinate work across states, or even cross country. But convincing your employer to allow you to leave the office and work in your pajamas may be a tough sell. Here are 5 tried and true reasons you can use to convince your boss to allow you to telecommunicate.

1. It Benefits the Company: Initially, a great way to begin the process, is to suggest that having an employee work from home benefits the company as well. If you propose this concept as one that will save your employer money, they will be much more likely to go for the concept. Will they save money by being able to reuse your workspace or not have to buy you lunch? Brainstorm all the ways that your working remotely will save your boss some money.

2. You Are Tech Savvy: It is extremely important before you consider working remotely that you can be connected to your work and your boss the entire time. Having a good home office ,a laptop computer, and access to a fax machine or scanner will help. Being able to constantly check your email account, and being able to be reached on your cell phone would also be things to have in place. It also helps to have a high speed Internet network so that you will not have to wait a long time to download projects or reports. Showing your boss how quickly you will be able to be reached, and how easy it would be for you to communicate with other members of your team, even while at home, may be the selling point you need.

3. Productivity: Now you must be able to present to your boss reasons why working at home will increase your output and productivity. If your company is one without a telecommunication policy, it may be a hard sell. You must not only convince them that your job can be done successfully from home, but that you will be able to be even more of a focused worker, and get even more accomplished. You can begin by discussing with your employer the fact that many studies have shown that working from home increases productivity. You can write up a proposal to them, outlining how you will use your time at home to its greatest advantage.

4. Personal Reasons: It is also important to have a very good reason why you are requesting to work from home. If you have just been through a personal trauma, a loss in the family, or are recuperating from an injury that would make it more difficult to work in your office environment, you will probably have a better shot at making your case.

5. Flexibility: Prove to your boss how flexible you are. Explain that you would be more than happy to try this out, maybe one or two days a week if they agree to your proposal. You can also set up a trial period. Agree to abide by the rules set up under your work at home agreement. If after the trial period your boss does not feel as if you were even more productive by working remotely, agree to return to the office full time.