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I'm interviewing for a job a few hours away from my home, I would love this job and I'm sure I'd be a great fit.

I want to be honest and transparent from the start with them, I want to work from home. My partner is tied up in our city for a specific work-related task for another 3 years and I would hate to just leave.

I want to propose that they let me work from home. I understand they can't automatically trust me, so I would be happy to move there short term,and would be open to travelling once a month to check in with team members at my own expense if necessary. The company is already very remote friendly and they pride themselves in work life balance.

I want to convince them from a business standpoint because I am sure my skill and productivity at home can be as beneficial to them as it would be for me.

Is this unreasonable?

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is this unreasonable?

Not at all, You can always ask. With your proposal you've offered to move short term and give them time to trust you. You've offered that you check in once a month (maybe even more regularly if needed). I think you're at a good stand point assuming you get the job (as you're still interviewing).

I want to be honest and transparent

This is the way to do. If you feel like your skills and your personality will be a good fit and they do too. This minor complication should not deter them from hiring you. If you feel not being able to WFH is a deal breaker then you should ask this upfront to save wasting time of both parties.

What I will say is be careful when you mention it (if you're telling them in the interview) as they may want someone on site for this role and this may put you at a disadvantage but if you don't want a job where you can't work from home anyway then this shouldn't bother you.

But never the less, Good luck and I hope it works out for you

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    Yes, I would say: first of all ask yourself honestly if not being able to work from home is a deal-breaker. If the answer is yes, then just be very frank in the interview, ask what their policy is up front, no sense wasting your time and theirs. If you would be prepared to work on site but prefer home work, you can afford to be less up front and feel them out on the idea first, ask about their policies in the "any questions" phase, if they're remote friendly they may already have policies in place.
    – delinear
    Oct 2, 2018 at 8:05
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Is this unreasonable?

It's seldom unreasonable to ask for something you feel is important. Being up front about what you are after makes complete sense. Offering to be there initially and travel there periodically is a very reasonable approach.

In the best case, they understand your need, consider you a great candidate, and are willing to work with you to make it happen. In that scenario you get a great job on your terms, or perhaps some compromise terms that are acceptable to both sides.

In the worst case, they decide that they can't offer a remote position to a new employee. In that case you haven't wasted any time and can then move on to the next possibility.

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Yes, it is unrreasonable. You can add it in the initial offer, but that is looking for a lottery win unless they already are prepared for remote workers. Like totlly remote.

Your "skill and productivity at home" are NOTHING special, unless you are a star composer, internationally renowned programmer, world class lawyer. You can bet there are a number of similar skilled people in their place and if they prefer a local person, you are really at the end of the line - because you do not ask for DAYS remote, you are totally remote which means you really are not suited for any position that for whatever reason (many of them are illusional, but that does not change the fact that the companies believe in those reasons) require physical presence.

You simply will not be considered.

This MAY be different if they are open and run distributed teams - but that is NOT the norm. You also really stress "remoe friendly"- There is a difference between partially remote work (i.e. normal remote friendly where you may say "1-2 days home work is ok") and "totally remote worker". And totally remote worker and work-life balance are not the same. I dare really ssaying you are stretching the definitions here.

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  • This probably varies according to location. Sure, companies would prefer someone local, but at least right now in the USA, finding local talent is very difficult. I know, I've worked for companies that have been hunting for good software developers for years now.
    – DaveG
    Oct 2, 2018 at 13:47
  • Oh, I will - but generally they (a) must be prepared for remote teams and (b) will advertise it. A company taht for example looks for a business side architect (in software development) with plenty of meetings just wont accept a totally remote worker. It is lucky that just YOUR application is coming at a time they have not yet advertised that change.
    – TomTom
    Oct 2, 2018 at 14:00
  • I calculated that I save about £6,000 a year by working from home, not counting 3 hours a day. To put £6,000 in my pocket, the employer needs to pay me £10,000 more (40% tax) plus 15% NI contributions, total £11,500. So if company A offers me to work from home, company B would have to pay £11,500 a year more to make me a competitive offer working every day in the office, ignoring the time my comment takes.
    – gnasher729
    Oct 20, 2022 at 11:44

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