Want To Work From Home? New Data Could Help You Convince Your Boss

Adobe

Want to convince your boss to let you work from home more often? Some new research could help you make a persuasive argument.

Research from Gallup released in February as part of its “State of the American Workplace” report found that employees who spend three to four days working from home were the happiest with their jobs.

Happy employees mean bigger profits and a healthier bottom line, research has consistently found. In essence, there’s definitely a business case to be made for your boss to let you work from home several days a week.

To reach this conclusion, Gallup spoke with more than 7,000 employees working in the United States. They asked the workers how many days a week they worked from home and how enthusiastic they felt about their jobs.

Getty Images | Omar Havana

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the employees who spent all of their time collaborating with others in the office who were the happiest, nor was it the employees who spent just one day a week working from home.

Employees who reported feeling the most engaged said they spent 60 to 80 percent of their time working from home.

This represents a significant change from what Gallup found in 2012. That year, research showed that employees were happiest when they worked at home 20 percent of the time.

So, what changed?

Getty Images | David Ramos

Jim Harter, chief scientist for workplace management at Gallup, told the Washington Post that he believes companies are doing a good job optimizing workers’ remote options by giving them more tools and better training. The percentage of employees who reported working from home at least some of the time jumped from 39 percent in 2012 to 43 percent in 2016.

“I think organizations are more intentional about putting resources around it,” he said.

Harter said that employees are happiest when they have a “significant amount of time where they get absorbed in their work and time passes quickly.”

“And when you work remotely, you certainly have more of a chance to get absorbed in your work,” he added.

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Sarah Kuta

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