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Step 1
Make sure your position can be performed from home before presenting the idea to your boss. Make a list of all your weekly tasks and how you get them done: do you need frequent feedback from supervisors or other co-workers? Do your co-workers depend on your presence to get any of their own tasks done? You need to be an independent, organized worker with proven reliability to be considered as a candidate for telecommuting.
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Step 2
Set up a room in your home as a dedicated home office. If you want to turn your full-time position into a telecommuting position, your boss needs to know that you won't be distracted by other things going on in your home.
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Step 3
Make arrangements for childcare in advance if you have children at home. Your boss wants you to be completely focused on your work, not on caring for others. They're not going to pay you to play with your kids all day.
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Step 4
Compile articles on the benefits of telecommuting. Don't present the idea to your boss in terms of how it can benefit you personally. They're more interested in how it can save them time and money.
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Step 5
Prepare a written proposal to give your boss that outlines your plan. It should be concise and unemotional and include your importance to the company and how telecommuting can make your working relationship more valuable and efficient. You should give your boss your written proposal at the same time you orally present your case. Then, she'll be able to look over your proposal later after thinking about what you've said.
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Step 6
Propose a trial period. They're more likely to let you give it a shot if they have an out. Suggest evaluation meetings throughout the trial period that allow you both to discuss your feelings about how it's going.
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Step 7
Outline how you'll manage daily and weekly deadlines and offer to e-mail a list of your completed tasks at the end of each day. Many employers are nervous about letting people work where they can't be supervised, but you can prove that you'll get even more work done from home than you do at the office.
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Step 8
Allow your boss to determine whether they'd like you to continue working at the office anywhere from a few hours to a few days per week. This way they'll feel like they're still in regular face-to-face contact with you, and any small tasks that can't be done at home will still be accomplished. Tell your bosses that you would attend all staff meetings.
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Step 9
Provide your boss with various ways to communicate with you while you're at home. Instant messaging, e-mail and phone contact allow them to check in on your progress.
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Step 10
Outline all of the equipment and programs that you've already got or plan to purchase for your home office that will allow you to do your work. For example, let your boss know that you have a computer with high speed internet access and the same office programs used at your workplace as well as a printer, fax machine, additional phone line and file backup system. You'll need to have a secure desktop that's only accessible by you, up to date antivirus and antispyware software and a secure password system to manage work-related logins. Don't ask them to pay for any of these things; it's a good reason for them to turn you down.
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Step 11
Try again in a few months if your boss turns you down. Continue outlining your tasks and writing down how working from home could help you accomplish them in a more timely and effective manner. Offer to finish up a project over the weekend to show your boss how well you can work from home.
