Working Mums in the UK
Working Mums in the UK

Working from home, at least one or two days per week, used to be seen as a real luxury, something that was only afforded to middle or higher management, since they were the only ones that could be relied upon to actually undertake work from home, with everyone else still expected to come into the office.

Yet there are more and more organisations recognising that working from home at least one day a week is a very good idea. So if you are interested in persuading your boss to let you do this, then you may wish to present them with some of the following arguments.

If you have a child or children or caring responsibilities then it is worth asking your employer if they will allow you to work from home one day per week, so that you will find life a little less stressful and hopefully as a result, you will be more productive.

Even if you don’t have children, you can ask your employer to consider this on the grounds that you will still have phone and internet access, but that you will find it easier to work at home and because you will not have as many distractions, you will be more able to produce reports, meet deadlines, do the graphics for presentations etc. Generally office environments are busy, with background noises, distractions and colleagues who may interrupt you right at a vital moment. But at home you do not have these distractions, so you are able to concentrate more fully on the work in hand, which ultimately makes good business sense.

You should also present an environmental argument. Each journey that commuters don’t take, reduces greenhouse gas emissions. (This is particularly true if you drive to work). If everyone worked from home on a Friday, there would be far less congestion on the roads and offices could reduce heating and lighting bills by around 20% per annum.