Page 58 - Benjamin Franklin\'s The Way to Wealth: A 52 brilliant ideas interpretation - PDFDrive.com

they are immediately seen as a time waster. It’s as if you have to pay your
dues with hours of cramped travel in order to be seen to really want your
job.

That doesn’t have to be the case, however. The advent of email, broadband-
equipped home computers and such technological marvels as Virtual Private
Networks means that to a corporate network you are as present (absent?) at
home as you are in the office—as long as you are logged on and working.
Furthermore, many governments are now formally encouraging people to try
flexible working, partly in response to the fact that long hours and both
parents slogging away in offices aren’t seen to be in line with those family
values so dear to politicians.

Few companies have a culture flexible enough to suddenly swallow full-
scale flexible working, so don’t try and force it down your particular
company’s throat. Try instead to secure yourself just one or two days a
week, and make it clear that this means being online and on duty for the
whole day or you’ll be perceived as a part timer. If you’re going to argue
for a day of home working, then make sure you have agreed goals for that
day’s work with your boss. These should be crystal clear and deliverable,
rather than vague generalisations about being contactable.

HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU…
Take the initiative with your boss and note down the normal workload
you achieve in the office and agree to deliver it from home. But be
careful:if you’re not that productive normally, you’ll be bringing this to
your boss’ attention. Not a good idea, so prepare the ground first.