Tips to Get Permission from Boss to Work from Home | Fusion - WeRIndia

If you’re working in an office Monday through Friday, and you’re the only one asking to work from home, it’s probably going to be a bit of a struggle.

So, start off by asking to do so just one or two days per week.

Build your case, your goal is not to convince your employer that you will be happier if you work from home. Instead, put your employer’s interests first, show your boss that you will be more productive and make his or her life easier.

Here are few ideas which can help you to get permission from boss to work from home:

Put Your Work from Home Proposal in Writing
If you are sure you want to work from home, your employer doesn’t have any policies that would preclude it, and you are sure you can handle it, put your work from home proposal in writing.

Having it in writing allows your boss to consider your request more thoroughly. It also shows that working from home is important enough to you that you went to the time and trouble to state your case clearly.

Keep your proposal to the point and try not to make it too lengthy. Remember, your boss is busy so stick to the point.

Include the reasons how allowing you to work from home will benefit the company? Why you are qualified to work from home, add facts and resource information.

Indicate how you will maintain communications with your team and how you will keep the boss advised of your activities.

Indicate your willingness to allow your work from home arrangement to be a trial or probationary period.

Offer to work from home on a trial basis or for a limited time so both sides can evaluate the situation. Give your boss a “no hard feelings” way to back out of the arrangement if it becomes necessary.

Review Your Work from Home Proposal
Once your work from home proposal is ready to be submitted to the boss, read and re-read it carefully. Make sure there are no threatening tones in your proposal. Have a spouse or friend proofread your proposal.

Is he or she sold on the idea to work from home that you’ve presented? If not, why not? Can your spouse or friend offer any ideas on what the boss may object to? Can you make some improvements to your proposal to make it more convincing?

Putting together a good work from home proposal takes time and thought. However, if you’re successful all that time and effort will be well worth it once you get the opportunity to work from home.

Give the right reasons

The reasons you want to work from home might be travel flexibility or more time with the kids, but you don’t necessarily want to give those to your boss.

If you have a legitimate issue, such as a sick spouse, a long or expensive commute, or an ailing parent, that might be fine, but do not simply argue that you would be happier in a home work environment.

Instead of motioning the reason in detail, try to highlight the beneficial parts of working from home to your boss. It also helps to focus on results instead of action.

With fewer office distractions, you might be able to reach more goals and be more productive without necessarily coming into the office every day.

Suggest a trial period

If your boss is still on the fence after this conversation, suggest a trial period.

This will give you the chance to prove your argument, and once your boss sees how productive you are, it will be hard for them to deny future work from home.

If your boss does grant you a trial period, the responsibility then falls on you.

Once you’ve been given the green light to work from home, show your boss that you will complete more projects, achieve better results, and accomplish more tasks through your at-home work.

Be flexible

Although many employers are becoming more open to working from home, each company seems to have a different system.

If you want to work from home full-time but your boss won’t budge, try suggesting two or three days a week where you work from home.

Like a trial period, this will give you the chance to prove your effectiveness in an at-home environment.

Another possible arrangement is to work from home primarily, while continuing to attend any required in-office meetings.

This can be a huge help to those with long commutes, since rush hour traffic can be avoided by going into the office at odd times during the day.

You can also propose the option of attending meetings virtually. With communication tools like Skype and Google Hangout, you can tune in to meetings while sitting almost anywhere in the world.

If your employer is still skeptical, try citing successful companies like Toptal or Auttomatic that operate on a completely remote model.

Go into the argument from your employer’s perspective

As mentioned before, your goal in this conversation is not to convince your employer that you will be happier working from home. Instead, you should concentrate on your employer’s interests first.

By focusing on the following reasons, you can convince your boss that working from home is just as beneficial for the company as it would be for you.

Working from home increases productivity, reduces overhead office costs, helps businesses retain top talent, employees who work from home can work longer.

Prove yourself

If you are given the opportunity to work from home, give your job your 110%. Make sure you continue to answer your phone and respond to emails or messages.

Instead of simply meeting deadlines, prove you can beat them with the benefits of a distraction-free work environment.

If you remain as available, or even more available, as you were in the office, you can show that there is no risk involved in allowing you to work from home.

Remain productive by setting aside an area of your house that you only use for work. Besides physical space, also consider your schedule and what time of day you work best.

Additionally, if most of your team is still in an office, it can be important to make sure your schedule continues to overlap with theirs.

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