Remote work went from being unimaginable to a necessity to a seemingly ‘unmanageable’ challenge. Companies that tried to incorporate it permanently are going back to offices and what could have been a evolution is slowly losing spark. That said, if you are an employee with experience and enthusiasm, you just might convince your boss to let you work from home. If you’re someone who wants to continue working remotely without having to leave your company, these tips will help you convince your manager to let you.
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Make them see it
If remote work has been hindering your team’s progress and coordination, then it’s evident why your employer is reluctant on sticking to it. It will fall upon your shoulders to be the torch-bearer. Find out what’s not working for your team and collaborate to come up with solutions to make it work. You need to be able to build a case not just for yourself, but also for your team. Even if the latter prefers to continue working from the office, build a case on how you can coordinate with that. Research software or tools that have worked better for other companies and put an explanation in place over how you can inculcate them into yours. When they see initiative and possible success, they might be more inclined to accept remote work.
Explain the benefits of working from home
Instead of just jumping into a working-from-anywhere pitch, you can start by introducing the benefits of working from home. According to research conducted by Forbes, about 65% of employees think they can be more productive in a work from home setup. This is due to the lack of distractions at the workplace, less stress of someone breathing down their necks, no more annoying or competitive colleagues, and stress of commuting. Let your boss know how much time you can save by not commuting, how much more productive, motivated and inspired you will be to be better without having to compare yourself with your colleagues. Moreover, you will probably learn more being outside, meeting new people who match your energy and goals. Overall, you will get work done faster with more time to yourself and for rest. Make sure they know it’s just as beneficial for them as it is for you to have you at your best.
Offer to do a work from home trial run
If you’ve got more teammates in the same boat as you, you can definitely get them onboard a work from home trial run. Convince your boss/ employer about the lessons that you’ve picked up while working from home during the pandemic. This way, you can put more thought and effort into creating a smooth and efficient remote work experience for both your colleagues and your employer. This means having team management software such as Slack or Microsoft Teams in place, scheduled meetings, weekly task updates and even incentives for employees who match with their deadlines in time.
Switch to a more goal-based approach
The one primary benefit that remote work offers is better time management. However, this cannot be accomplished if you’re still expected to log your hours every day. Suggesting switching to goal-based work over duration-based work can easily solve that problem. Suggest taking on small projects for fixed durations that you can work on in your own time over doing random tasks over the week. This way taking sick days won’t affect shifts and won’t cause work to pile up. Employees can work in their own time and finish their tasks as and when they want to before the deadline.
Engage in an honest conversation
Just like you, your boss is an employee too. Offer to have honest and open communication with them over their concerns regarding work from home. Let your boss know how they can benefit personally by opting to work remotely themselves. Make sure your conversations are guided by intent and backed by evidence from companies that have made it work. Offer to return to the office if things don’t seem to be working. Be prepared with all kinds of solutions and offer a willingness to compromise and collaborate.
Cutting down on overhead costs
Money can be a great point of argument. Not just your boss and you yourself, but the company saves a shit ton of money by closing down its offices. It saves on rent, electricity, waterworks, internet connection and any other maintenance charges that it has been paying for. While work from home helped Google saved about $1 billion in 2020 and working professionals in India saved an average of ₹5000 of their salaries and about 2 hours of their time.
Expanding the scope of recruiting
Your employer needs to know how switching to remote employees can help the company widen their field for the recruitment of professionals. They could find better, more skilled employees if they choose to offer them the opportunity of remote work. It also helps people reach more clients if a company is heavily dependent on sales.
Try to sneak out
No, we don’t mean sneak out during work. According to Jason Lengstorf, a colleague of his started taking sick leaves once a week in order to work from anywhere he wanted to. Eventually, it reached a point where he was out of the office for almost half the month. When he was eventually asked for an explanation, the company realised that he could be just as efficient away from the office. Proving that you’re worthy of this chance to work from home may require patience, but it’s worth the wait for a lifetime of working from a lake, beach or your toilet.
According to Zapier, traditional offices are on the verge of becoming obsolete. The Great Resignation is testimony to that. You know you’re worth more than you’re putting in and if in the end, your office refuses to budge, you know what you gotta do. Just remember to have a safety net in place before making any brash decisions.
