Remote working

Have any of you approached your boss re remote working from home a day or two a week, and if so how did it go? Any pointers?

I have lots of facts together and info from other groups in the company that support it. My role is suitable and I have a few irish work/life balance websites. I suppose I'm wondering is there a bad attitude towards it from managers?

Thanks in advance,M.

I don't think it is possible to generalise on attitudes. If your manager hasn't worked in this way before, there may well be fear of the unknown. Make your plans for staying in touch with your manager and other staff clear up front. Push the benefits to the organisation, rather than the personal benefits to you.

If other groups in your company support it, is there not a company policy?

Hi Micheller,

Most modern companies now accomodate teleworking. If your job has realistic objectives that can be measured by your manager then it should not matter where you work. Many workers in many companies are now working from home.

I was involved on the IT side in setting up a number of home offices for a multinational. If you have broadband (ADSL) at home, you can be always on line to your employer and can also have access to all systems that you would have if you were at the office.

It is better if you have a dedicated room, e.g. a boxroom or a Shomera (http://www.shomera.ie/) at the bottom of the garden. You can also set up webcam and MSN Messenger if you wish. Your It guys can sort out the systems security.

There are other issues. You will need to discipline yourself and your family to accept when you are working, you are working and cannot be disturbed. There are also the psychological aspects e.g. the need sometimes to have face to face meetings and to be near "warm bodies". There are many blogs etc on teleworking.

It has been my experience that an employer gains more from a telewroker with a good work ethic, because, they are not wasting time commuting, they tend to be more efficient and less distracted and they often have a better balance between work life and family life.

See this link for benefits: http://www.eto.org.uk/faq/faq03.htm

Thanks guys, yes rainyday- it's true, bad idea to generalise anything
The other areas in the company are different companies in their own right so policy may not apply & can't find one in my business.

I was going to suggest 2 days remote and 3 day in the office for face to face meetings and support within the org- don't want it to feel like I'm not there for them. I can be flexible too with being 'on call' on those days I'm remote.
Was going to use spare bedrm and ASDL connection should be grand.
Here's hoping! Thanks,m.

I'd say employers in general have nothing against it, provided they have a metric on performance, or an easy way to see that a reasonable quantum of work has been completed on days at home. If ure situation is measurable, then it should be no problem. Several of my clients have staff working from home doing data processing functions they used to perform in the office and both sides are happy.

It all boils down to trust in the end, your employer needs to trust that you can perform at least as well in the home environment as an office one. There will also be a cost element. Some management are stuck in the rut that if they cannot see you, they cannot manage you. I went through this about 7 years ago....was working in the UK at the time, am now home-based in Ireland, although I still work for the same UK organisation. The model works very well. PM me if you need more info.

Hi Michelle

If you'd like to PM me your email address I'll send you details of how to lay out a cost benefit justification.

In general it depends on a) whether your boss trusts you and b) whether you have a skill they wish to retain. In general people with professional level skills whose job tasks are amenable tend to get permission; those with clerical level skills do not. The management style of your line manager is extremely important as are technical elements (data security; whether suitable affordable broadband available so as not to impinge on productivity).

What length of working relationship do you have with this manager? Do you believe that he/she trusts you?

Best wishes

Imogen

I do believe my manager trusts me- but I suppose this will be the teller.
Going to have all my facts, figures and benefits ready and have lots of suggestions.
If it doesn't go my way it's going to leave me with no option but to start looking as it will be 4 hour round commute come the end of the yr

hi

i currently work from home 2 days a week (tuesday and fridays). i commute from south-laois btw. i guess i am fortunate in that my boss already worked from home 2 days a week (his home is galway, our office is in eastpoint business park, dublin 3). also the company we both work for would be considered one of the top IT companies worldwide so they encourage working from home if possible. therefore i did not have to do any cost analysis etc to justify the costs.

i guess the bottom line is as long as you can maintain the same level of work when working from home as you would if you were in the office then in theory there should be no problem. infact, you would probably end up getting more done at home than you would in the office (less chats, tea-breaks )....i know i do

as other posters have stated it will also depend on your boss. are they the control type who need to see you in front of them or are they easy enough going to let you off on your own and they know the work will be done?


good luck with this, i hope you get the chance to work from home.

--laoisfan

Thanks for the support Laoisfan. Have meeting scheduled will let ye know

One thing you will also need to bear in mind is the Health and Safety aspect of this. Your employer should carry out a H&S assessement of the area you will use at home to ensure they are covered from an insurance perspective, usually not a big deal, it involved filling out forms but covers your employers if there was ever a claim on eg RSI or back injuroes

micheller said:

Thanks for the support Laoisfan. Have meeting scheduled will let ye know

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no worries - btw the way, you seem to be suggesting starting off with 2 days working from home. i personally would not have a problem with this but when you go to the meeting and if you get the feeling that this is a non-runner, then suggest 1 day a week starting off. you can both review how it is going after say a month. if your boss does not like the idea of 2 days i would go with suggesting 1 day initially. after maybe 2-3 months, all going well, it could be increased to 2 days a week.

also, if you do get it approved, have you thought what 2 days you would like ? most people generally go for either Monday&Thursday or Tuesday&Friday, but obviously it will be determined by meetings etc etc. i find my boss very flexible. this week i have worked Thursday and today (Friday) at home. i normally do Tuesday&Friday. the reason i worked Thursday instead of Tuesday was because my wifes' car had to be brought in for NCT. my wife was not in a position to get time off to do this so i opted to do it for her. told the boss and he had no problem with it.

good luck with the meeting!