Below are a few tips to keep that flexibility a reality and your new lifestyle on an even keel:

• Always meet deadlines
• Always be the one to answer the phone during work hours
• Reply to emails asap
• Treat your telecommuting job as if you were at the office
• Lay down the rules to your family and friends about your work hours

Stick to these simple rules as though gospel and your boss won’t have any regrets in letting you work from home and you can keep all the benefits working.

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• Flextime: A Win-Win Green Solution? (treehugger.com)

Dads are only allowed two weeks off at the moment while mums get a year, with nine months of that paid.

But following proposals by Gordon Brown, Business Minister Pat McFadden is to push for laws allowing parents to split leave.

It could mean mothers taking the first six months and dads the second giving 12 months in total rather than the 9 currently available to mothers alone.

Mr McFadden said there had been “overwhelming support” for the move in a consultations, and ministers will try to legislate as soon as possible.

Now Brown has moved in to claim the glory here, fair enough, it is an election year but I’d like to give a special thumbs up to Harriet Harman. She has championed parental leave and flexible working rights in the UK for many years, and despite a lot of stick recently, she came through on this one.

I usually do a ‘related articles’ bit here but I can’t find anyone saying anything nice about her.