Working from home; finding a work-from-home job

Considered from the employer’s point of view, e-commuting is not a viable option for many jobs and some employers are hesitant to open the door to that option. Nearly all management positions require the manager to be on site in order to mentor staff and direct activities. By the same token, less experienced employees who wish to develop management skills and eventually become managers themselves cannot expect to do so if they work off site.

From a quality of life perspective, working from home appears to offer advantages: flexibility with regard to work hours, less micro-management, and lower commuting costs. However, individuals who have worked from home or in a one-person office are aware of the disadvantages of this arrangement: loneliness (no social interaction with office peers), difficulty getting motivated, and lack of real-time information flows that may affect the direction of ongoing projects.

Taking these considerations into account, there are certain types of work where the trade-offs are worthwhile. By foregoing the requirement that an employee work on site, an organization can gain access to a larger pool of qualified candidates and possibly lower their costs as well. In fact, that’s exactly what outsourcing is, since there isn’t really much difference between having an off site employee and an off site vendor–the considerations underlying the decision-making process are much the same.

Selling the idea of working from home to your current employer may be tough, since your boss already has the preferred situation and is not likely to settle for less. From the employer’s perspective, converting an employee from onsite to off site has few advantages (your office or cubicle becomes available to another employee, yet only if you never work in the office), but many disadvantages (less accountability, and more difficult and slower communication). Unless the employer is faced with losing the employee and having to find a replacement, there is no advantage to the employer in agreeing to your proposal, so the only leverage you may have is offering to work from home instead of quitting.

On occasion, an employer will state in a job posting that the position may be performed from home. If not, you should raise the issue during the first conversation with an interested employer and see how they respond.

Michael G Smith