Before I left work to have my kid, I talked about the possibility of working from home with my Direct Supervisor. I didn’t just walk into his office one day and inform him of my post-child work schedule. Instead, I casually brought it up while he and I were discussing his own flexible schedule at his previous job. Right when he was telling me how much more work he had been able to produce at his home-office then at his office-office, I pounced. I started asking him questions about what his thoughts were on working from home. I asked him what our company’s policy was on their employees working from home (even though I already had read the P&P manual). I feigned interest in his story without actually telling him that was my plan after I popped my kid out.

As my due date fast approached I, again, breached the subject with my Supervisor. This time, I started the discussion by telling him what my plan was. I brought up the fact that I live close to the office and could thus, come in daily to pick up and drop off assignments. I used words like; cell phone, laptop, and home DSL. I discussed working lunches, with my child in tow, to discuss projects. I used words like “temporary” and “let’s try this for a while.” I spoke with confidence, even if I wasn’t that confident, and hoped that he would buy into my plan.

My plan was to work from home on Tuesdays and Thursday. I figured that would enable me to be in the office every other day. My Supervisor liked my plan. He felt confident it would work, and as a parent, he understood my desire to be at home with my newborn. We also both knew that this wasn’t anything permanent. I was okay with that, since I wasn’t even sure how well the plan would work. Heck, I’d never been a mom before. I wasn’t sure how much of my day would be filled with taking care of my child.

I asked my Supervisor who above him I needed to clear my flexible work schedule with. He told me not to worry about it. He said that it was up to him, since I was working exclusively on his project. Perfect.

My Supervisor announced the plans in our weekly project meeting and all seemed to be okay with the situation. One coworker even offered to walk any items up to my apartment on his lunch break on my working from home days. While I had been worried that my coworkers would be jealous of my option to work from home, they seemed supportive.

My first week back to work, after my measly maternity leave was up, was fine. Working from home every other day took some getting used to. Especially the prep work that I would have to do in the office the day before (compiling needed paperwork to take home, transferring files to my hard drive from the network, getting phone numbers I would need). But it worked. I was home with my baby two days a week, and still working enough hours to enable me to be Full-Time with my company.

While my foray into working from home status didn’t last forever, it was fun while it lasted. I think the reason it turned out so positively was the way I approached it prior to having my child. I think having a definite plan and one I was positive I could pull off, enabled my Supervisor to trust me and my proposal.

So tell me, do you have a flexible schedule in place with your company? If so, how were you able to successfully negotiate your schedule?

Isabel is a pseudonym for this Seattle-based blogger. She’s been working since the day she realized soda and lip gloss weren’t free. Isabel became a mom in 2006 and continues to work full time, outside the home, since diapers and mortgages aren’t free either. You can read far too much about her personal life at hola,isabel.

If you have questions, anecdotes, or topics for “Double duty. One paycheck.”, email Isabel at holaisabel [at] gmail.com.

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