Work From Home, Even in a Bad Economy

So how do you know if you're a good candidate for a telework arrangement? More important, how the heck can you get your boss's blessing?

Ask yourself the tough questions. Not all positions lend themselves to offsite work. But don't rush down the hall to chat up your boss just yet. A bit of fact-finding (not to mention soul-searching) is in order first:

Does your job require constant face time? If you can't do your job without standing three feet from your manager, coworkers and customers, you can't telework.

Related

Rising Prices Boost Consumer Spending

Business News: Sign Up for MONEYScope E-Mails

Looking for Career Advice?

In case you aren't sure, creative, marketing, sales, IT, customer service and finance professionals are good candidates for working from home; bartenders, healthcare providers and auto mechanics are not.

What's your relationship with your boss? If the answer is, "not good," sources say you'd best spend the next several months charming the pants off him or her (figuratively speaking, of course) before you ask for the moon.

And if you've been at the company less than six to 12 months, it's too soon to ask for an alternative work arrangement. You need to earn the boss's trust and prove you're a hot commodity first.

Just how flexible is your boss anyway? If others on your team are already teleworking, do a little sleuthing to see if your boss is a good advocate of the program. (Hint: Making comments like, "Stan, how nice of you to grace us with your presence today — I was beginning to wonder if you still worked here," is not being a good advocate.)

Also, if your boss has come down on you for "waltzing in to work five minutes late" on numerous occasions, you might have a tough sell on your hands.

Can you get anything done working solo? Do you the need the constant threat of management lurking down the hall to light a fire under your rear, or can you crack your own whip? And how well do you handle being all by your lonesome for eight hours straight? Not everyone's cut out for making water cooler banter with their cat. Some of us need more biped interaction than others.