So you want to convince your boss you should work remotely?
I’m with you. Working remotely from home is without doubt more productive than commuting in and out of the office everyday. If you’re one of the millions of people in cities like London spending around one hour each way per day on the commute, you’re potentially losing ten valuable hours per week. Not to mention losing some of your sanity in the process.
The problem is, not many bosses think of the benefits of remote working to you and to them. Here’s 8 points to help show your boss why working remotely is the future and they should allow you to work from home.
1. You save time
Imagine jumping straight out of bed, into the shower, quick breakfast and then to your home desk. You can easily be ready to start work before 9am everyday.
Most people who commute to work could save around 8 to 10 hours per week if they were to work from home.
Not many companies in the world take into consideration that a 40 hour working week is actually more like a 50 hour working week when you include the commute.
Reducing or eliminating the commute time is not only good for your sanity, it also reduces your outgoings, reduces stress and means you’ll probably start work earlier and finish later. Therefore your boss gets more value from you as an employee too.
2. Silence increases productivity
Being in a busy office makes it tough to concentrate and get your work done. If you’re able to focus on your tasks without the constant distractions of the office, it will mean you become much more productive.
Make sure you set up your home desk in a quiet room away from any distractions.
3. Tools like Slack make remote communication easy
Your boss might have the argument “I need you in the office for team communications and collaboration”. Whilst that is very important, there are many web tools now available which make communication and collaboration with your team super easy no matter where you are in the world.
Slack is a team messaging tool with many great features to help increase productivity. You can also use Skype, Google Hangouts, Go to Meeting and many other tools to stay in the loop.
4. You’re more likely to stay with the company longer
Many of us are constantly on the look out for that dream job, but what would be more dreamy than doing something you love remotely from anywhere in the world.
If your boss can also see the benefits of remote working, they are much more likely to keep you happy and keep you as an employee for the long term. That in itself justifies remote working.
5. You can do the job just as well from home
What’s at that office that helps you work better than you can from home? Well maybe a good stock of biscuits, but not a lot else.
We’ve established already that you don’t need to be in the same room as your employees to get the job done. In fact, there is no doubt you waste more time with your colleagues talking about none work related things on work time.
I’m not saying that’s bad, it’s important to have good relationships with your colleagues and to not always talk shop. Just that, if you don’t spend 8 hours per day with your colleagues, the time you do spend with them will be more productive, meaningful and work related.
Prove you work well from home by working the odd weekend, early morning or late evening. If you put the time in outside your normal hours, your boss will clearly see you are no slacker and they can have every confidence in your ability to get things done without constant supervision.
6. You’ll be less stressed
Rocking up to work when you’ve battled through traffic or on public transport to get to the office, you haven’t had enough sleep and you have a big work load can stress even the most zen of team members.
Working remotely totally reduces stress. Besides the commute which I already mentioned, working from home allows you to put yourself in a zen environment.
Light up some candles, put on some chilled music and get the lighting and ambience just right. Not too low though, we don’t want you falling asleep!
7. You’ll work more hours
To really sell this to your boss, you can explain how working remotely means you work more hours.
As noted above, cutting out that commute gives you so much time back. That’s time you could be spending at your desk, helping the company grow.
To prove your time commitment, you can use a time tracker like Harvest which not only proves you’re putting the time in, but also gives analytical data so you can see which tasks are taking most of your time. That should go a long way to convince your boss you should work remotely.
8. You’ll save money
Bag a few extra Pounds/Euros/Dollars each month by saving money on your transport expenses and saving money on your lunches.
If you’ve anything like me, you often opt for a quick lunch out at a restaurant or sandwich shop rather than taking a packed lunch from home to the office.
When working remotely you can whip something up in your own kitchen in half the time and for half the cost.
Good luck, and let us know in the comments below if you convince your boss you should work remotely.
You might also like: Five Web Tools to Increase Productivity
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