How to Get Your Boss to Let You Work From Home

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Americans spend an average of 50 minutes a day commuting to and from work.

That's about 200 hours a year wasted in traffic jams. With telecommuting, you can reclaim that time and spend more of it with your family!

In a recent guest post we did for My Life Scoop we shared 8 great tips on how to convince your boss to let you work from home. Here are two key tips from that article.

List the Ways Telework Will Benefit the Company

While your boss may be receptive your needs, the company’s needs will trump yours.

Get stats from government agencies and other companies to support your case, and be sure to zone in on the ones most relevant to your industry. Kate Lister and Tom Harnish, authors of the definitive telecommuting guide, Undress for Success, have compiled a comprehensive list of convincing statistics. For example, did you know:

• Best Buy, British Telecom, Dow Chemical and many others show that teleworkers are 35-40% more productive.
• AT&T's teleworkers work 5 more hours at home than their office workers.
• Sun Microsystems' employees spend 60% of the commuting time they save performing work for the company.
• 72% of employers say telework has a high impact on employee retention.
• Unscheduled absences cost employers $1,800/employee per year; that adds up to $300 billion/yr for U.S. companies.
• Telecommuting programs reduce unscheduled absences by 63%. 
• Telecommuters typically continue to work when they’re sick (without infecting others).

If your boss wants to see some concrete numbers, check out the Telework Savings Calculator and the TeleCommuter Hire Savings Calculator.

Prepare a Written Proposal and an Oral Presentation

When it comes time to finally and formally present your telework proposal, make it good. This video has a great summary of the process, plus details on what to include:

Want to see the complete 8 step plan to convincing your boss to let you work from home?  See the full article at the My Life Scoop website!