Proposal to work 'freelance' from home

JessieM

I now have three young children and live a distance from work so the costs and logistics of afterschool club, creche etc would be a huge pain. Rather than resign a secure and long-standing employment I am keen to explore other options.

I want to pitch the following to management as an opening gambit and would be so grateful for views on how I might do it, any precedents you've heard of etc.

Basically I propose to work from home racking up 14 hours (ie 2 days) per week but making it up in my own time as and when I can. I work in IT and feel there is a lot I could do on this basis eg analysing current procedures, risks and potential system improvement...testing including test plan development and implementation...reporting etc.
I could take calls during business hours if required and provide for say one office day a month for meetings, face time etc
I have many years experience and believe they would be reluctant to lose this and my analytical abilities, work ethic etc but need to make it attractive for them to agree...

Any views appreciated! Thanks!

jos28

Sounds like a great idea if you can swing it. If you are only working 2 days what will happen when you are not working. Who will do your duties when you are not 'on duty'. As someone who fought hard (successfully) to have job sharing introduced I know where you are coming from.
Before meeting with the powers that be I would ensure that I had everything clearly laid out with regard to your duties. I would stress that you will be in the office on a certain day every month. The other thing I would suggest is that you do up some costings for your employer. Show them how much they will save on your salary, PRSI (ER portion), holiday entitlements etc.
Everyone has financial targets to meet and they LOVE to save money. Would job sharing be an option if they don't run with your plan ? Is there someone in your office in the same position as you who could share a full time position with you ?
Hope it goes well for you, best of luck

Mr. Loverman

making it up in my own time as and when I can

As a manager I have a problem with this.

1) It makes it hard to schedule / receive your work.
2) I don't have set hours to contact you.
3) I have to explain this to the CEO etc. I will look like an idiot. Really I can already see the conversation: "You think this is ok? You are willing to accept this?" (said in a sarcastic voice).

This is my recommendation.

Create a 5 way matrix containing the different options. It will prove you've thought through all the options and makes it easy for your manager to make a decision. Senior managers love this sort of thing. I've attached an example. I make one every time I want my boss to make a decision. You include your recommendation (green). Obviously use whatever layout you want, but you want to make it obvious which they should agree to.

You want to be able to present the matrix in a way so any difficult questions are already answered on it.

Mrs OBumble

How many days a week do you currently work? If it's more than two, then how would the rest of your current job be handled?

Can you guarantee that when you are working, you really are working and not being distracted by children? I would never approve a home-workng situation unless the children were out of the house during working time, or there was some other adult present who is responsible for childcare.

Also - why freelance? Is your work really able to be chopped into discrete units where performance can be clearly seen? Why have these items not been outsourced already?

And before you go into any such discussion, you need to work out what your freelancing rates would be. Obviously a lot higher than your salary, because of all the additional costs of self-employment.

JessieM

Thanks very much for your replies.

Mrs OBumble, perhaps freelance would be the wrong word to use. I would be a part time employee not a contractor.

I feel that a number of work types would apply to the proposed setup. I am on maternity leave currently so someone else is carrying the load at the moment. Also a lot of what I do is value add rather than frontline ie improving things, so not all basic tasks that need to be covered in my absence, more analysis that just wouldn't get done without me.
Previously I worked a 3 or 4 day week using unpaid parental leave in the last couple of years so they got used to my not being there full time.
If I resigned there is no guarantee they would be allowed to recruit a replacement...lots of downsizing in recent years.

Mr Loverman thanks for your perspective and the matrix. My reservation is that I don't want to make it clear what I would request if they refuse this proposal eg redundancy or resign.

I'm not naive. If I were a manager I would probably snort and find it easy to justify refusing the request. But I have to give it my very best shot...you don't ask, you don't get...

Thanks.