how common is working from home in academia?

[hatwoman]

I've seen a job I'd like to apply for - but it's not local and I'd like, mainly, to be able to work from home. It's a research job, with a small amount of teaching as a bit of an add on, and some supervision of post-grads. obviously it's not lab-based scientific research (or I wouldn't be asking). I'm wondering what my chances would be of negotiating something like 1 or 2 days a week in the office, and the rest at home. Also - as a research job, are they likely to differentiate between term and non-term time? I wondered if maybe lots of academics work at home outside term-time? so I could negotiate on the basis of being more present in term time? I actually know the head of dept and his name is on the ad to call for an informal chat - which I'll do, but any tips on how to handle this, and even how to handle the informal chat. would be v. gratefully received.

I would say it is possible to do many contract research jobs mainly from home, and flexibly. It's what I've done for 13 years. I am around a lot after school, I take most of the holidays off, and I work mostly from home.

There are various downsides to research jobs, compared to standard academic jobs. They tend to be insecure employment, it's hard to get comparable pay to the standard lectureship route, and people/universities don't always treat researchers very well. But it worked for me as a way of doing a job I enjoy and also seeing a lot of my children.

I suggest you just ask, is it a job where you're expected to be in the office full time or not? (and I just don't take the ones which say you need to be full time in the office).