Negotiating a Remote Work Arrangement

If you are currently employed, but want to consider working from home as an option, you will need to negotiate your remote work arrangement with your employer. Depending on what you do and how common telecommuting is within your company, your boss may or may not be as keen on the idea as you are. Your employer may not necessarily care about your specific needs. Ask yourself the following questions to prepare to negotiate working from home with your superiors.

Will You Be a Better Worker at Home?

The first question you should ask yourself is: can you work from home and still be productive? While this may seem like a no-brainer at first, you’d be surprised at the challenges that many people find. Firstly, you need to be extremely self-motivated, hard-working, and focused. There are a ton of distractions that exist at home that you don’t have to deal with at the office, including errands, chores, kids, and even television. If you want to work from home, read testimonies online or talk to other telecommuters about what they find challenging, then decide if it’s a good fit for your personality.

Is the Timing Right?

If you’re a new hire, you’re probably going to need to prove yourself to your employer before he or she will trust you sufficiently to work from home. Unless a flexible arrangement was discussed when you were hired, most employers want to see that you are hard-working, self-motivated, and focused before they’ll allow you to do your work from home.

How Does Your Employer Win?

Frame your argument according to how it’s going to benefit the company. If you want to work from home because you like to sleep in or you want to hang out in your sweatpants all day, keep those details to yourself.

Instead, explain how this arrangement is actually going to benefit your employer. How will you be more productive at home? Will your cubicle become available for a new hire? Can you work different hours than you did before? Will you work holidays? Your employer is more likely to come around to the idea if you do your research.

Does Your Company Have a Remote Work Policy?

Take the time to look into your company’s telecommuting policy. These days, more and more employers are at least willing to entertain the idea of employees who work remotely. Decide where you stand with respect to company policy. You should be willing to find a happy medium – for instance, be prepared to have a trial period where you work part-time from home.

Do You Have a Proposal?

It doesn’t hurt to bring a written proposal when you approach your employer in-person. Not only will this help you to present your case in what might be a stressful situation, but also your employer will be more likely to take your request seriously. Let your employer know that although you have drafted a proposal, you are willing to negotiate the conditions of the arrangement.