When she married a widower six years ago, Janna O’Neill became an instant mother to his two children. Since then, she and her husband, Jeff, had a son, now four years old.

During those six years, Janna, 34, kept working full-time as a senior sales executive in the diagnostics division of a huge pharmaceutical company.

“I literally did not stop from 5AM to 11PM. Not one time. It was a fast life. I couldn’t keep track of sports practices and appointments. I would come home at the end of the work day tired and cranky, having ‘left it all on the table’ at work.”

Janna was ready to quit her job. When she confided in a trusted colleague about her plans, she was encouraged to propose a job sharing arrangement instead. But Janna was unsure. “No one in our organization was doing job sharing, so I didn’t see it as an option. My friend told me, ‘You would be crazy not to give it a try.’ I had to break new ground [in proposing it].”

At the time of our interview, Janna was into her fourth month of job sharing. What’s the difference?

“I finally feel a balance that was lacking in my life. I don’t let anything slip through the cracks; I don’t forget about [sports] practice or a dental appointment that costs me $75 to miss. I can attend all of the special events in my kids’ lives. And now I’m picking up the kids’ car pool twice a week. It’s so fun because you get to know them more. I’m a lot more tuned in to their lives.”

More Interview Highlights with Janna

Pat: What is your work schedule now?

Janna: My job partner and I each work ½ days on Monday. Then I work Wednesdays and Thursdays and she works Tuesdays and Fridays.

Pat: How well are you able to keep to the 2.5 days-a-week schedule without going over?

Janna: It’s a challenge because of the nature of our business. For example, we both recently attended a week-long mandatory national sales meeting in another city. But my manager is supportive about making up lost “off” hours at other times.

Pat: What insights did you gain from the process of negotiating job sharing?

I had to be persistent. This would not happen on its own. [But] I’ve worked hard and have a good track record. I reminded my employer of my history of success. This is a technical position; they know it takes two years of training before somebody new can move any mountains [in sales]. So I was in a pretty good spot to ask for it.

Pat: Most of my flexible work proposal customers get relatively swift approval of their proposed work arrangement. Your situation was different; introducing something new in a mammoth corporation can take a long while. How did that play out for you?

Janna: I was discouraged because it took months for my proposal to go through the chain of command. I thought, ‘This is time that I’m losing [with my kids].’ The biggest hurdle was having a very busy VP of Sales get it off his desk [to the next step]. My manager and regional sales manager were supportive but had to choose their timing well when bringing it up with their boss.

Pat: Now that your job sharing arrangement is in full swing, is your manager still supportive?

Janna: Yes. My boss sees it as a win because now he has two sets of eyes looking over a large sales territory. Another win was when I had shoulder surgery and was out for four weeks yet there was some coverage. He didn’t have to cover it.

Pat: How were employee benefits handled?

Janna: We both get full health benefits, and the 401K remains. And you know, with two people, there are two company cars, two phone bills, two airplane tickets to sales meetings, so [my employer] is really backing the arrangement.

Pat: What about your customers? How did they receive your new job sharing arrangement?

Janna: Their faces light up when I introduce my job partner. We tell them we have six children between us. They are thrilled that [my employer] would do something like that to keep a valued employee. Several have told me that they wish they had had those options when their family was young. So overall all, the response has been, “Wow, what a great thing you’re doing for your employees.”

Pat: Cutting your hours meant cutting your income. How did you and your husband approach the decision to switch to shorter hours?

Janna: We sat down with pencil and paper to figure out how we could do this. What does this mean [for our lifestyle]? Financially, it’s manageable, plus were able to cut out child care expenses on Tuesdays and Fridays. My husband would have supported me in any decision, but he’s really happy for me.

Pat: What has surprised you about the job sharing arrangement?

Janna: I’ve gained a new best friend! My job partner and I are like long-lost friends. I enjoy her thoroughly. In that way, it’s blown my expectations.

Pat: Anything else you’d like to add?

Janna: My bosses knew this arrangement was important to me, but I wanted them to know it was important to my kids, too. So I had each of my kids write a note to my manager and regional sales manager. Their thoughts about having mommy around more really “brought it home” to my managers.

Takeaway Tips for My Readers

1. Expand your thinking beyond black and white choices, e.g., work traditional full-time or quit. There are many work options to match your specific needs. If you need ideas, please ask me.
2. Just because there’s no employer flexible work policy doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Asking works. Be thoroughly prepared. Janna used the Job Sharing Proposal Package.
3. Many professional jobs have such demanding responsibilities that a reduced workweek alone is not practical. In contrast, job sharing, where the job position remains full-time, is a way for your career to stay on track while you work part-time hours.
4. Are you underestimating the value you bring to your employer? Assess your contributions. You probably have more negotiating leverage than you acknowledge.

Is job sharing a viable option for you? Click here explore more on this topic.

This article was written with baby boomers in mind—specifically, those without children at home. Parents of young children will do better considering other flexible work options.

What boomer hasn’t bordered on burn-out some time in their career? Including you, perhaps?

When quitting your job isn’t an option and there’s no short-term sabbatical on the horizon, what practical alternative do you have?

While there’s no quick fix, spending stretches of time on a relaxing interest outside of work creates a restorative mental shift. Let’s look at how that could work for you.

Do you have a languishing hobby that needs more time and attention? Are you wondering how to find “extra” hours for your interests without trading income or benefits to get it?

One approach is to redesign your job into a compressed workweek of four, 10-hour days. (I know, I know; you’re already working 10-hour days, so how can you slice off one day a week? I’ll get to that in a minute.)

Burn-Out Gets Painted Away

Stella is the Senior Art Director for a medium-sized advertising firm whose true passion is oil painting. The demands of her job had her working a crazy schedule, leaving her love of painting neglected for years.

Stella couldn’t afford to cut her salary to return to her painting, so she first assessed and modified her job to shift some of the responsibilities to her two ambitious assistant art directors—a career development pay-off for them.

Then she negotiated to restructure her schedule into a compressed workweek, which gave her every Wednesday to devote to her long-lost hobby.

Stella’s redesigned workweek allows her to paint regularly for several uninterrupted hours, which she says has “restored” her; it is a relaxing expression of her creativity and it “cured” her burn-out.

How to Ramp Down Excess Hours

Now, what if you’re a salaried employee working 45-50+ hours a week at the office as the expected norm? How do you justify taking off one day a week (up to 20% reduction in hours) without a cut in salary? Here are a few strategies to consider:

1. Ask for it. Sometimes it’s that straightforward, if you’re well-positioned to make such a request. You could adapt the strategy I used. (The hours I describe aren’t a match, but the 20% figure is).

2. Start reining in your hours to reach 40-45 a week. Use elimination (of low value tasks), delegation, boundary-setting and work redesign as a team to pare down duties. Once you have a handle on the “new norm” (but with work deliverables maintained), you’ll be in a better position to propose a compressed workweek.

3. Get approval to telecommute one day a week before requesting a compressed workweek. For most people, working remotely increases productivity by double-digits. This in turn fosters the goal of reigning in work hours (see #2, above). Then, when you’re ready to propose a compressed workweek, you can restate your case for telecommuting one day a week (fewer interruptions, increased productivity), and arrange to come into the office the remaining three days.

Tip: Choose your “off” day to match your energy levels and your rhythms of work and play. Wednesdays off allows you to handle shopping, a vet visit or a haircut so your weekends can truly be a time of rest from the workweek. Choosing Fridays as your “off” day extends your weekends.

Is a Compressed Workweek Right for You?

Before you decide on a compressed workweek, assess its pros and cons as they relate to your lifestyle and work-life needs. If you decide to move forward, here’s the first page of your compressed workweek proposal.

A Better Burn-Out Cure

After you’ve followed through on the above strategies, start planning your six-week sabbatical. Get your free Six-Week Sabbatical Proposal Template here.

Interviewing for a new job is a tough-enough situation. But what if you want both a job and a flexible work arrangement to go with it?

Finding a flex-friendly employer paves an easier path, but not all companies fit that category. Even those that do sometimes have a waiting period before new employees can telecommute or work a non-traditional schedule; the employer prefers new workers get oriented to their position—and demonstrate job performance and reliability—before flex scheduling kicks in.

I won’t mince words: it is usually tough, tricky, and even risky, to negotiate a flexible work arrangement during a new job interview with a typical employer. But it’s not impossible. Information and timing are key elements to negotiating success.

Information: Scout Out Clues

Before the interview, surface clues about the company culture that will help you to decide whether or not to bring up the topic, and if so, how directly.

Check the company’s “Careers” section of their website to see if they position flexible work arrangements as one of their desirable employment features.

Savvy employers recognize that workplace flexibility helps in recruitment and is a strong driver of retention. They promote it and practice it. But some don’t walk the talk. Verify actual practices by checking with current or past employees; use Linkedin and GlassDoor to find people to ask.

If nothing is publicly mentioned about telecommuting and other flexible work arrangements, the prospective employer is probably not using them as a business and human resource strategy. Now you know. But before you jump to a firm conclusion…

Look for subtle clues about company culture when you arrive for the interview. Are there indicators that a personal life outside of work is openly acknowledged? For example, do see family photos on desks or children’s artwork posted on cubicle walls? During the interview, tune into the hiring manager’s verbal, physical (does s/he look well-rested or tired?) and  environmental signals that reveal his or her work-life balance perspective.

Depending on what information you surface, you might be bold enough to be direct, asking about a typical day, or typical number of hours a week, as well as expectations about extra hours during special projects.

Inquire about employee connectivity during “off” hours; are employees expected to check email in the evenings or on weekends? If flexible work policies are mentioned on their website, ask about the level of employee participation. (Or you could check the employee parking lot after-hours to get your answer.)

How does the hiring manager respond to these types of inquiries? Tune in to the vibes; they are very telling.

Collectively, these company culture clues should drive your decision about whether and how to bring up a request for a flexible work arrangement. Add your intuition to the mix as you gather these signals during the interview.

In some cases, the inquiries I’ve suggested so far is best reserved for the second interview, if you’re called back for one. Which brings us to timing.

Timing: Know When to Negotiate a Flexible Work Schedule

The time to negotiate specific terms of employment is after you’ve been extended a solid job offer. As with salary and benefits, flexible work arrangements can be a part of those employment terms to agree upon before you accept the offer.

Bring it up after both sides have finished negotiating salary and have come to a mutually-agreeable figure. (Salary is an expected area of negotiation in a new job offer, so you should be well-prepared to get your well-researched figure in that category. But that’s another article.)

From there, you could segue into talking about your history (if you have one) as a telecommuting or four-day workweek employee and how it proved to positively impact your productivity. Then present your desired flexibility terms as a topic for negotiation.

Warning: It Could be a Deal-Breaker (on Either Side)

Be ready and firm from the start about what you are or aren’t willing to accept in salary, flexibility and other terms.

If flexibility is so important that you ask directly as part of your negotiated work terms, are you ready to decline the job offer if those terms aren’t met? Be prepared with a menu of acceptable variations of flexible work options so that you have room to negotiate and compromise.

Are you willing to risk having the offer withdrawn if they perceive your request as unreasonable? That’s another possibility for which you need to be prepared.

Take a look at the big picture of your circumstances to determine how you should proceed with asking and negotiating.

Alternative Routes

So much of work-life (and life in general) is about trade-offs; if you really want the job—the work is interesting, the money’s great, the commute is smooth, or whatever else appeals—a lower risk approach is to get hired first, then negotiate a flexible arrangement later.

If that doesn’t happen, you may want to focus your job search efforts on employers and jobs that offer flexibility from the start.

Because every situation is unique, I’ve only scratched the surface of possible strategies. Advising on flexible work negotiating strategy is what I do best. If you need some advice, please ASK me.

Dear Pat: I currently work 32 hours a week for a company I’ve been with for several years. I no longer like my job, but am having a tough time figuring out how to have similar flexibility in a new job. It seems I would need to go back to 40+ hours per week until they get to know me and I can then negotiate more flexible hours. Do you have any suggestions for how to handle the job search and ultimately negotiate flexible hours in a brand new job? ~ Moving On

Dear Moving On: As you recognize, the fastest way to flex for most professionals is to negotiate it at their current job after a sufficient time working a traditional schedule. In your case, it’s the job, not the schedule, that needs changing.

Most employers don’t offer a flexible schedule or telecommuting arrangement from day one.

But some do. Below are several viable options for finding or accessing flexible employers and jobs.

A Sampling of Staffing Firms for Professionals Who Want Flexibility

You might find your next employer through a flexible work staffing firm for professionals. I’ve seen businesses in this category come and go since the mid-1990′s, but in recent years, I’ve seen more staying power. This is an encouraging sign; employers are recognizing there are more effective ways to work than 8 to 5.

I recently asked several of these staffing firms to send a description of what they offered job candidates. Below are excerpts from the six replies I received.

Flexible Resources, a staffing and consulting firm, has championed the policies and practices of the flexible workplace since 1989. They have placed hundreds of Marketing, HR, Finance and high level Admin professionals in a variety of flexible work arrangements including permanent part-time, creative job shares, telecommuting and contract. Flexible Resources services client companies and job seekers in the New York City metro area. They welcome all to check out their website for free advice and job postings.

Flexforce Professionals is a niche recruiting and staffing service specializing in part-time professionals for the Washington, DC metro area. Most of Flexforce’s candidates are seasoned business professionals with at least 10 years of experience. Many are working moms who prefer to work on a part-time basis to balance work and family. Placements can be part-time permanent, part-time temporary, or project-based. Candidates may register with Flexforce through its website, where they can also find valuable return-to-work resources, view active job postings, and join the Flexforce mailing list.

Mom Corps is a national flexible staffing firm that works to match professionals with flexible job opportunities suited to candidates’ qualifications and scheduling needs. For its candidates, Mom Corps offers access to flexible job opportunities, events and job search support services such as an expert resume service and 30 Minute Mentor Webinars. Mom Corps is free of charge to job seekers.

Momentum Resources is a boutique staffing firm placing professionals in part-time and flexible full-time roles in the Richmond, Virginia, and metro Washington, DC markets. They work in a variety of industries including accounting, law, project management and non-profit, and typically work with mid- to senior-level professionals at no cost to the job-seeker.

Part-Time Pros staffing company unites degree-educated professionals with companies who have part-time, contract and full-time staffing needs. Their mission is to provide the perfect match between client needs, desires and wants with associates’ knowledge, skills and abilities, whether it’s a stay-at-home parent wanting to contribute to their household income, an early retiree wanting to continue to work part-time, or a college student needing to earn extra income.

10 til 2 knows that the workforce is changing and that professionals now strive to attain a more satisfying balance between work and family roles. 10 til 2’s long-term, part-time professional staffing has given thousands of jobseekers the opportunity to progress in their careers and still enjoy quality time outside the office. 10 til 2 is always looking for top-notch career professionals to join our team and revel in the perfection of part-time.

Professional Job Listings: All Flex, All the Time

Have you considered job boards or job listing sites? There are scores of websites which list telecommuting and part-time jobs, but it’s tricky sifting out the scam sites to find the relatively few legit ones.

Another confounding frustration: some otherwise legitimate work-from-home websites allow ads from spurious “employers.”

To cut through the clutter, I recommend FlexJobs.

Some time back, I had an hour-long talk with FlexJobs CEO, Sara Sutton Fell. She has a personal story that translates into a passion for people looking for a saner work life. She’s all about offering viable job options with integrity. (More recently, I interviewed her to get her current comments about flexible work opportunities; the interview will be posted next week. Subscribe now to get it delivered to your inbox.)

Her team searches the web for you and hand-screens the telecommuting, part-time and free-lance jobs they find—throughout the US and beyond—checking the legitimacy of the employer and the posting. Only those jobs that make their scrupulous cut are posted on the FlexJobs site.

For a modest fee, you get full access to their huge listing of jobs. But you can read all the truncated listings for free, so you’ll have an idea of what you’d be paying for first. There are more than 50 job categories, most of them professional-level.

[Disclosure: WorkOptions is an affiliate of FlexJobs, and they are the only company for whom I, as a website owner, have agreed to be an affiliate. They're that good.]

How to Find Flexible Employers

Beyond these innovative staffing and job listing services, you might want to target specific flexible employers as part of your job search strategy. Here are several ways to surface them.

• FlexJobs offers a free online Guide to Best Companies for Flexible Jobs.
• Consult the Workplace Flexibility Directory for “certified Flex-Friendly” employers.
• Many of the 100 Best Companies on Fortune magazine’s list offer workplace flexibility. Start with the “Near You” category to see if any of the employers are within driving distance.
• Forbes magazine has a similar but smaller list.
• Check the listing of Working Mother magazine’s 100 best companies; all of them offer some sort of workplace flexibility
• Glassdoor has a top 50 list but there’s some overlap with other lists and it takes more work to find the flexibility factor.
• Finally, check with your nearby Chamber of Commerce and metropolitan business magazine. Some compile rankings of “best companies” among local or regional employers.

How to Vet a Prospective Employer for Workplace Flexibility

If you have targeted a specific company and you can’t find them on any of the lists, check their website under “Careers” or “Employment” to see if they position flexible work arrangements as one of their desirable employment features. Verify actual practices by asking current or past employees. Use searches and queries on GlassDoor and Linkedin.

Then there’s the reality-check tactic (if you’re within driving distance): check how full or empty their parking lot is between 5 and 7 pm!

How to Ask About Flexibility in the Interview Process

That covers the job search aspect of finding flexibility. In a different article, I address how and when to inquire about flexible work arrangements during the new job interview.

PS: Stay up-to-date with all my latest articles by subscribing to WorkOptions Updates.

You’re a professional, a smart “knowledge worker,” right? So doesn’t it frustrate you to drive daily to a desk that’s miles and miles and too-many-minutes away from home—only to use a computer and a phone to get your work done?

Do you want to know what keeps you from telecommuting?

It’s no longer the technology; we’re past that barrier. It’s mainly a management issue. It’s employers and managers who have not yet embraced the business strategy that is telecommuting, AKA telework, remote work, virtual office or mobile office.

Whatever you call it, there are far too many supervisors who only know a “face-time” management style and thereby thwart the strategic use of telework. Even though working remotely benefits both employer and employee in several well-documented ways.

What’s the ideal scenario? To have an enlightened employer that embraces flexible work arrangements as a business strategy, promotes a flexible culture, and provides management-by-results training.

My guess is your employer is not there yet. That leaves you facing three common reasons why you’re still not telecommuting. Here they are, and how you can overcome them.

Reason 1: There’s no policy for telecommuting where you work.

No surprise here. While progress is being made in many companies, your employer, like millions of others, has been slow to embrace telecommuting in a formal way.

You can probably walk through this barrier if you’ve worked for the same manager for at least two years and present your request using a professionally-crafted proposal.

Thousands of employees (who didn’t want to wait years for their employer to come around) have negotiated a one-on-one telecommuting deal with their respective managers, without benefit of a policy. You can, too. Use a quick assessment exercise to gauge your chances of getting your manager’s approval to work from home.

Reason 2. Your manager puts a premium on “face time” and wants you in the office every day.

Here are a couple of tactics that can change your manager’s mind.

First, make it very clear that your request is not to work from home every day.

Most employed telecommuters work from home one, two or maybe three days a week and go to the office the remaining days. You’ll propose the same. Plus you can stay very “visible” to your manager and coworkers using the phone, email, IM, web chat and texting, just as you do now.

A second tactic—and probably more crucial to getting your boss’ approval—is to stress the trial period for your telecommuting arrangement. A trial period is three to six months long.

Your manager may not like the perceived loss of control (“How do I know you’re working?”), yet wants to be reasonable in giving your request to telecommute a fair chance. Knowing that she can change her mind allows you to move forward instead of having the door shut on the proposal altogether. Three to six months gives you time to prove the arrangement.

Reason 3. You’re afraid to broach the subject of working from home.

In other words, you’re afraid to ask, or afraid of a “no” if you do ask.

Fear of asking is less of an issue among men, but it’s been a common thread I’ve observed among otherwise very accomplished professional career women.

These are women who are confident and capable in their work, yet they convey that asking for a flexible work arrangement for themselves is something they shouldn’t do, or something they don’t deserve, or something that might have very negative consequences, usually along the lines of threatening the professional relationship they have with their manager.

But guess what? It’s not true. The real problem is women’s perception of these things.

According to the authors of Women Don’t Ask, as a “result of powerful social influences,” women have an “impaired sense of entitlement” and they often “assume that they are stuck with their circumstances.” So they refrain from asking for what they want.

Among the ways to build confidence to ask for telework, rehearsing your proposal presentation is a research-backed tactic for overcoming nervousness to negotiate.

Do any of these three reasons resonate with you? Why do you think you are not yet telecommuting part of your workweek? Please let me know your comments and questions.

Dear Pat: I just read your advice about how many days working from home to request when proposing a telecommuting arrangement. My situation is different; I want to move from the Boston area to Charlotte, North Carolina, (where my wife has family), and still keep my current job.

We had our second baby six months ago, and with the cost of full-time child care and living expenses in general, it makes sense to make the move south. If we do, my wife, a full-time accountant, could probably work part-time, which she’s been wanting to do since our first child was born.

I don’t have a new job lined up yet, but it occurred to me that I could do my current  job as a credit analyst from just about anywhere. In other words, I want to telecommute full-time, far from my employer’s headquarters in Boston. (I figured could fly to Boston a few times a year, if needed.)

Would your Telecommuting Proposal Package work for me in this situation? ~ Ready to Relocate

Dear Ready: This is not the typical application of the Telecommuting Proposal Package, and it is a tougher one; the chances of approval are lower than the usual request to work remotely from home part of each week.

I’ve given some examples below where it has worked well—a couple of analysts included—but first, here’s some advice specific to you.

1. Can you stall the relocation for a few more months? If so, gauge your chances of approval for nearby telecommuting and if you score well, propose to work from home now, three days a week. Your effectiveness in that trial period will lay a solid foundation for your pitch for full-time, long-distance telecommuting from Charlotte.

2. Your wife could use the same tactic in her current job. Otherwise, she should start exploring job opportunities in North Carolina. Fortunately for you, there’s a Moms Corps office in Charlotte that specializes in flexible staffing for professionals. I also recommend FlexJobs for finding legitimate telecommuting jobs.

3. If waiting three months is not possible, and you plan to make the move anyway, you have nothing to lose by asking. In fact, if you’re ready to walk away no matter what, you’re in a strong negotiating position. So go ahead and make the pitch. Press for a three-month trial period, at least.

Can Full Time, Long-Distance Telecommuting Get Approval?

Yes. When your manager understands that your work is something you do, not somewhere you go, approval for the trial period will follow. (But some managers don’t get it, so you should also be exploring job opportunities in the Charlotte area, no matter what.)

Here’s an unvarnished description of the Telecommuting Proposal Package I found on a forum by a user who, along with her husband, is now working full time remotely “…in a much more affordable city.”  (Note to all: If the link no longer works, let me know and I’ll give you a free copy of the Proposal Package.)

More Inspiration

At the risk of sounding promotional about my proposal product, I want to  encourage you that a detailed proposal—whether your own from scratch or my fill-in-the-blanks template that is the core of the Proposal Package—can get you where you want to be: working remotely, full-time, in an affordable city.

“I moved from Houston to Abilene, Texas [375 miles away] and still wanted to work for my employer. They were not willing until I submitted the [WorkOptions] proposal to the COO of the company.

I will work from 730 AM to 4 PM Monday thru Thursday and off at 1330 on Fridays…I put in the proposal exactly what I wanted and they gave me everything. Thanks.” Marc E. Amberson, Master Trip Support Specialist, Licensed FAA Aircraft Dispatcher and Aviation Expert,  Abilene, TX

Marc told me he’d worked for his employer for 15 years before he moved. And it sounds to me as if his job is quite specialized. These are favorable negotiating factors, so the proposal’s role was to show how the new arrangement would work. And it did.

Baby boomer Janet wanted to telework from about 100 miles away from her employer to be closer to her elderly parents. She works for the federal government which has telework policies, but she still had to make her case for working remotely on a full-time basis.

“With your [Proposal Package ] guidance I prepared a strong document that convinced management to approve my request. Thanks—it made a tough sale much easier!” Janet (preferred first-name only), Management Analyst, Mississippi

Brad’s job was in a call center which was adaptable to remote work.

“I wanted to telecommute full-time in my current job because I was moving to Atlanta from San Francisco. With the [Proposal Package] template, it was easy to just plug in the pieces that related to my job. It also made me really think through what I needed to do to get approval; I was well-prepared with a strategy and ready answers to my boss’s questions and concerns. Bottom-line: my telecommuting proposal was approved. Thank you.” Brad Palmer, Atlanta, GA

This request for far-away telecommuting won over four higher-ups in three layers of management for first-time-ever approval:

“[My immediate boss] was impressed…Unfortunately, she was not the final decision-maker …Our VP…was very impressed with [the proposal's] professionalism, detail, references and quotes…he needed to talk to his boss (the Senior VP) and the CIO (about feasibility of technology and security issues…).

Two days later my VP told me that while he had never allowed an employee to work from a home office and that the idea was very progressive, his answer was “Yes!” The Senior VP and CIO had both approved my proposal.

I am walking on air and still can’t believe my dream has come true! I truly couldn’t have made a better impression without the help of [your Proposal Package. It] gave me the tools I needed to pursue this alternative work arrangement with confidence. Thank you…” Shannon Bryant (got approval to telecommute from Maine), Healthcare Analyst, Chesterfield, MO

So know it can be done and getting approval is a real possibility. Give it a go and let me know how it turns out.

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My diverse career path started in health care as a registered dietitian (RD). In the late 1980s, I was the coordinator for the local Optifast Program, a medically-monitored weight loss program for obese individuals.

This was a popular and busy program with lots of people enrolled. Especially after Oprah went public in 1988 with her Optifast Program results. (Remember the wagon of fat she pulled onto the stage as she wore size 10 jeans?)

At the medical group where I managed it, the Optifast Program was conducted in the evenings to accommodate the patients; virtually all of them were time-pressed professionals.

As I interviewed client and client, a familiar challenge surfaced: how to incorporate healthy habits into a hectic career life. For many of these people, this was a dire need because of the level of their health-threatening obesity.

If I knew then what I know now about negotiating flexible work, I would have added a few success strategies to the lesson plans of the program’s group support sessions.

Flexing Her Way to Fitness

Fast forward to this century to learn from Eileen, who took a different approach to weight loss and better health, using a flexible work arrangement to support her goals.

After decades of neglecting her health, Eileen had a recent medical scare related to her obesity that triggered an overhaul of her habits.

The changes she made to her diet and physical activity were dramatic. This concerned Eileen’s physician, who then counseled her to slow the pace and add monitored support. The goal was long-term lifestyle changes, not a quick fix.

For Eileen, that meant weekly afternoon appointments with a dietitian, daily afternoon time with a personal trainer at the gym, and regular attendance at group exercise sessions. Eileen also attends occasional nutrition and cooking workshops to learn healthier food preparation techniques.

Yes, it’s a lot. But health is Eileen’s current priority and that’s reflected by her willingness to trade some of her income for regular time off: she negotiated* a 30-hour workweek at her job as an assistant director of development for a city college.

So far, she finds the physical pay-offs worth it—she’s lost more than 25 pounds and has more energy—with the social dividends being a bonus.

Flexible Work Objective: Improve health and fitness through regular afternoon training sessions, exercise classes, plus nutrition appointment and workshops.
Custom Work Option: Work 8 to 3, five days a week
Type: Shortened workday
Total Hours Worked Weekly: 30
Salary Retention: 75%

Eileen plans to keep this schedule for six months before resuming full-time hours. She expects this temporary part-time arrangement to build a foundation of confidence and change to sustain healthy habits.

She might propose telecommuting two to three times a week so she’ll have time to hit the gym regularly.

Do you have new health goals for the coming year? How could a flexible work arrangement support your success? If you need help figuring out a custom answer, please let me know. I’m glad to help.

* Work Options offers low-cost proposal templates for getting approval of a flexible work arrangement.

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