Many employees value the flexibility of being able to create their own schedule to include days where they work from home. This can allow them more time to take care of personal issues. If the employee has a particularly long commute, working from home can be a great way to cut back on time and expenses incurred traveling to and from the office.
Even if your company does not have an existing work from home policy, it may be possible that an employee will approach a manager or HR representative with a request to allow a work from home day. But which day is the best?
A recent Fast Company article discusses the benefits and drawbacks of working at home on particular days of the week. As Fridays tend to be less productive anyway, it is possible that an employee asking to work from home that day may be perceived as attempting to get an early start to the weekend.
While this may not actually be the case, there are other days of the week that may be preferable. It may be a good idea for employees to work from home on days that are already known to be highly productive during the middle of the week, such as Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
As the article details, research has shown that workers who telecommute are less likely to receive a promotion. While telecommuting may not actually be an indication that an employee is any less productive than they would be in the office, this perception is worth noting.
Employees and managers should work together to determine a work from home schedule that will be fair as well as productive. HR software solutions can help your company implement an HR system that will help your company become increasingly productive and efficient.