Working from Home 2 days

schander

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask. However here goes:
I'm currently in full time employment as a software developer. I would like to know how to go about asking my employer to let me work from home for 2-3 days a week.
Anyone know what the Law says on this matter?? As i understand it i can write a letter to my employer asking if i can work from home and they have to reply.

This is all i know so if anyone could enlighten me further on this i would be most appreciative.

Thanks
satpal

CFC

What makes you think that you have the right to request that you work from home?

Are you getting confused with the right to request flexible working hours, if you have young children?Flexible working hours doesn't mean the right to request to work from home.

sarahlouise210

exactly ! There is no law that says an employer must consider letting you work from home...but as a software designer it could be possible..so just ask them - they can only say no! The flexible working hours rules are to enable you to balance work and home life - you could not use this excuse as you would actually be working ...not caring for someone etc

Fleago

Those that are entitled by law to request flexible working can ask to work from home. Linky here. From April 2007 the right to request flexible working will also extend to carers of adults.

Fleago

PS Sorry, here's a better linky that takes account of the changes in April.

RibenaBerry_2

Actually, the flexible working regulations apply to place of work, as well as time.

As Fleago says, it will soon apply to carers, and already applies to parents of young children (or any child, if the child is disabled). Are you in either of those situations Schander?

schander

Thanks for all you replies.

I'm not in any of the situation mentioned. So I guess that I really havn't got much to back up my request.

Thanks
satpal

Fleago

Nothing in law to back you up satpal, but that's not to say your employer wouldn't look favourably on the request, as many employers do recognise that it can be beneficial to be flexible with their employees. You could always ask. They could say no, but then again, they might just surprise you.

Fleago

msmicawber

Hi schander,

Do you think it might be possible to sell the idea to your employers as a 'Green' idea? You won't be cluttering the roads with your car, contributing to pollution, using office electricity, etc.

golly99

Think this very much depends on your employers attitude to home working. I have recently joined a large consultancy firm and I've noticed the difference in attitude to home working, is there anybody in the company doing it at the moment? The role I do is remote client support which I can do at home, but as I've just started so I still need to be in the office 100% of the time while I'm picking stuff up, however, they are quite open for people to work from home (they use a Instant Messaging program for communication) so as long as you are logged in that during the day and do the work as normal, I'm sure everything is fine. Personally I think I work better from home and feel much more relaxed, but I think it's important to have a good seperate area so you can focus and not become too distracted! I have often found I do more hours working from home than at work as you have no commute time, so typically login earlier and are on line longer. I would maybe tempted to bring up the question of working from home 1 day a week and see how that goes, to build up trust, then hopefully you can increase to 2 days a week further down the line.