Negotiating to work from home
June 11, 2008 6:34 PM Subscribe
Tips and Techniques for negotiating the ability to work-from-home?
I do copywriting and web development work for my company. Recently, my wife and I had our first baby, and once she goes back to work in September, it would make the most sense for me to work from home.
In the past, my job has allowed me to work from home on ocassion, and have been incredibly flexible. With the exception of meetings (which I have maybe every two weeks at most), everything I do I can do from home.
Thinking over the situation it seems like there are several options I could offer my employer...
1) I do all the things I currently do but from home for the same level of pay. This would be ideal. I can come in to the office for an hour or two a week (or some level) to get caught up on what is going on. I could drop my health insurance as I would be covered by my wife's job.
2) I do most of what I'm doing now, but only part time and from home, I would lose all of my full time benefits which would definitely save them some money.
3) I could offer to work as a "contractor" so they would just pay me say a flat fee per month but (as far as I know) would have far less paper work on their end.
4) I could possibly work from the office at night (say 4-10) though that would only give little overlap with when anyone else is there.
How should I approach talk about this with my employers? I understand that to get what I want I'll probably have to give something up, but I want to come out with a decent position for myself.
I do copywriting and web development work for my company. Recently, my wife and I had our first baby, and once she goes back to work in September, it would make the most sense for me to work from home.
In the past, my job has allowed me to work from home on ocassion, and have been incredibly flexible. With the exception of meetings (which I have maybe every two weeks at most), everything I do I can do from home.
Thinking over the situation it seems like there are several options I could offer my employer...
1) I do all the things I currently do but from home for the same level of pay. This would be ideal. I can come in to the office for an hour or two a week (or some level) to get caught up on what is going on. I could drop my health insurance as I would be covered by my wife's job.
2) I do most of what I'm doing now, but only part time and from home, I would lose all of my full time benefits which would definitely save them some money.
3) I could offer to work as a "contractor" so they would just pay me say a flat fee per month but (as far as I know) would have far less paper work on their end.
4) I could possibly work from the office at night (say 4-10) though that would only give little overlap with when anyone else is there.
How should I approach talk about this with my employers? I understand that to get what I want I'll probably have to give something up, but I want to come out with a decent position for myself.
The trick is to build a case for why it is in the company's interest to let you telecommute.
Can they do without you easily? If the answer is no then "retention of a valued employee" is one of your selling points.
Higher productivity, due to lack of interruptions, would be another advantage. (A baby is never an interruption).
Ask for a two-week trial period or perhaps compromise and work only 2-3 days from home.
Do not give anything away to easily. Good luck!!
posted by swarkentien at 6:59 PM on June 11, 2008
Can they do without you easily? If the answer is no then "retention of a valued employee" is one of your selling points.
Higher productivity, due to lack of interruptions, would be another advantage. (A baby is never an interruption).
Ask for a two-week trial period or perhaps compromise and work only 2-3 days from home.
Do not give anything away to easily. Good luck!!
posted by swarkentien at 6:59 PM on June 11, 2008
Are you thinking you will work from home and take care of the baby too? Most WAHPs will tell you that this arrangement can take a toll on both the career and parenting fronts. Expectations will be high from your employer that you'll be able to maintain the same level of professionalism and responsiveness, and sometimes the small ones don't care that you really need to make a phone call. And sure, you can work until 3 a.m. if you work from home, but are you going to want to, day after day?
Perhaps you'd have more success by suggesting an arrangement somewhere between the occasional flexibility you have now and full-time at home.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 7:03 PM on June 11, 2008
Perhaps you'd have more success by suggesting an arrangement somewhere between the occasional flexibility you have now and full-time at home.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 7:03 PM on June 11, 2008
If you do this and you are to be the f/t caregiver, you might want to see about negotiating evening work hours PLUS being on call for calls and emails throughout the day. That may sound grueling, but it is the only way I can see this working, if you don't have help.
Disclaimer: I have two children and work from home at my own business. But I do not work 9 to 5. I work during naps, lunch (when my husband pops in), and after the kids are asleep. If your wife is home in the evening, you could swap off and thus perhaps give them 4 to 10 plus 2 scattered hours during the day.
posted by acoutu at 7:33 PM on June 11, 2008 [1 favorite]
Disclaimer: I have two children and work from home at my own business. But I do not work 9 to 5. I work during naps, lunch (when my husband pops in), and after the kids are asleep. If your wife is home in the evening, you could swap off and thus perhaps give them 4 to 10 plus 2 scattered hours during the day.
posted by acoutu at 7:33 PM on June 11, 2008 [1 favorite]
I've pulled this off several times. Realize, that as long as you are doing a decent job (I'm sure you are) it is much easier and cheaper for them to let you work from home. Try to think of what their concerns are going to be (meetings) and have a resolution ready to go. In my most recent case, I took a year at home to be with my kid (I'm a dude, but, my wife has a much more professional career than my generic web job). I basically said that I've got a kid now, my wife makes the real money in the house, we're not going to be sending the child to daycare yet and I WILL be staying home with the baby. I would like to stay on with them, but, that was their decision. The ball was in the court, they said, "What about staff meetings on Monday morning?" I told them that I would be there for every staff meeting, and I was.
Currently, I'm still with the company, but, I'm back in the office a couple of days a week. Once the kid learns how to crawl, it becomes pretty much impossible to get any work done and I was getting tired of working until 2 am to make up the difference.
Moral of the story: be strong and don't be afraid to make demands. Don't give anything up unless you have to. And think carefully about what you're giving up. Good luck fellow Mr. Mom.
P.S. being Mr. Mom RULES.
posted by trbrts at 7:33 PM on June 11, 2008
Currently, I'm still with the company, but, I'm back in the office a couple of days a week. Once the kid learns how to crawl, it becomes pretty much impossible to get any work done and I was getting tired of working until 2 am to make up the difference.
Moral of the story: be strong and don't be afraid to make demands. Don't give anything up unless you have to. And think carefully about what you're giving up. Good luck fellow Mr. Mom.
P.S. being Mr. Mom RULES.
posted by trbrts at 7:33 PM on June 11, 2008
I work 100% from home (and I'm 1200 miles from the office so I can't just go in when they want me).
Depending on how big your company or department are, there may be other people wondering about a work-from-home solution, especially with gas prices doing what they're doing. Could you score points for initiative by helping to develop a corporate policy?
Don't offer to quit and go 1099 (freelance) unless it's that or lose your job, unless you're absolutely sure your wife's health insurance will carry you and the baby immediately. I have heard stories about insurers or employers deciding that a spouse's free-choice change to freelancing is not a Major Life Event, and therefore you wouldn't be covered until her open enrollment period. It also may be less paperwork on their end, but much more on your end - you'd also be responsible for 100% of your social security pay-in, rather than the half of it you pay now (your employer pays the other half). Also, a contractor who relies on only one client is in a really dangerous spot; are you able/willing to market yourself to diversify your income?
I'm not at all anti-contract/consult; in fact, I'm planning to do the same myself in the near future, but it takes work. Of your four options, #1 and #3 are the ones that maintain your professional footing; don't offer to go part-time or to lose benefits as a first proffer.
The Tim Ferris recommendation is a good one; I think his book is strongest when he discusses shifting from a compensation structure based on hours to one based on deliverables.
Good luck, and mazel tov on your new family member.
posted by catlet at 7:39 PM on June 11, 2008
Depending on how big your company or department are, there may be other people wondering about a work-from-home solution, especially with gas prices doing what they're doing. Could you score points for initiative by helping to develop a corporate policy?
Don't offer to quit and go 1099 (freelance) unless it's that or lose your job, unless you're absolutely sure your wife's health insurance will carry you and the baby immediately. I have heard stories about insurers or employers deciding that a spouse's free-choice change to freelancing is not a Major Life Event, and therefore you wouldn't be covered until her open enrollment period. It also may be less paperwork on their end, but much more on your end - you'd also be responsible for 100% of your social security pay-in, rather than the half of it you pay now (your employer pays the other half). Also, a contractor who relies on only one client is in a really dangerous spot; are you able/willing to market yourself to diversify your income?
I'm not at all anti-contract/consult; in fact, I'm planning to do the same myself in the near future, but it takes work. Of your four options, #1 and #3 are the ones that maintain your professional footing; don't offer to go part-time or to lose benefits as a first proffer.
The Tim Ferris recommendation is a good one; I think his book is strongest when he discusses shifting from a compensation structure based on hours to one based on deliverables.
Good luck, and mazel tov on your new family member.
posted by catlet at 7:39 PM on June 11, 2008
Don't assume you will have a chill baby who will just hang out, entertaining his or herself while you write and edit. You might now, but kids and their needs can change quickly. And be prepared for it to take much longer to do the same amount of work.
In short, have a plan B.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 6:53 AM on June 12, 2008
In short, have a plan B.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 6:53 AM on June 12, 2008
Adding to catlet's points: a contractor who has only one client may also make the IRS cranky. If you do go freelance, try to line up some additional clients, even if they don't need a lot of steady work from you.
posted by kristi at 11:10 AM on June 12, 2008
posted by kristi at 11:10 AM on June 12, 2008
Response by poster: Thanks for all the advice everyone. I went in to ask for it on Thursday and got officially turned down today. The reason I was given was that for the position I work, they'd like someone who can be in the office during office hours.
In the previous meeting, I had offered to a trial period but I didn't discuss taking my job to part time or any of the non-full time options mentioned above because I really thought they would be somewhat open to the idea.
So, if anyone else comes to this thread for advice on this subject. Don't do what I did.
posted by drezdn at 2:09 PM on June 24, 2008
In the previous meeting, I had offered to a trial period but I didn't discuss taking my job to part time or any of the non-full time options mentioned above because I really thought they would be somewhat open to the idea.
So, if anyone else comes to this thread for advice on this subject. Don't do what I did.
posted by drezdn at 2:09 PM on June 24, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Listener at 6:46 PM on June 11, 2008