How to Make Your Work-From-Home Arrangement a Permanent One
In 2016, about 27% of Americans rented their homes. But whether you rent or own your domicile, chances are that you may now be using your dwelling as a workplace. Thanks to COVID-19, countless American businesses have had to quickly transition to having a remote workforce. And while some people can’t wait until they’re able to come back to the office, others are hesitant to give up the ability to work from home.
In fact, many employees and employers alike are now realizing the benefits of remote work. Although more than 70% of companies aren’t prepared for cyberattacks — a fact that became even more evident during the pandemic — there have been a number of well-known organizations that were more than prepared for the remote work transition. They’re doing so well with the change, in fact, that numerous brands have either extended work-from-home abilities through 2021 or have made the choice to work from home permanently available to their team members.
For example, Microsoft recently announced that the company would allow the majority of its employees to work remotely through its new hybrid workplace model, which will allow employees to either work from home around half the time or work from home on a permanent daily basis. Several other brands, like Twitter, Adobe, Facebook, Mastercard, Nationwide Insurance, Slack, and many more have extended remote work options or plan to transition to permanent work-from-home opportunities. And a recent survey of businesses that have adopted remote work policies due to the pandemic found that two-thirds of those organizations plan to keep at least some of those policies in place in the long term or on a permanent basis.
That does make a lot of sense, according to many experts. Not only can they keep their workplaces safe and keep their current employees happy, but previous studies have shown that remote work productivity can often outpace productivity levels found in the average office. What’s more, remote work possibilities are extremely enticing to today’s job seekers. Since those actively seeking employment spend an average of 11 hours per week looking for the perfect job, organizations can make themselves appealing to applicants by offering remote work options during the pandemic and beyond.
But what if you already have a job you love and want to see whether remote work might be a permanent option for your position? While it’s not always possible in every instance, there’s a compelling argument to be made if you’ve been doing your job successfully from home for the last six months or so. It’s a lot harder for your employer to necessitate in-person work if you can prove that you’ve been hitting required metrics just as successfully (or even more successfully) when working from home. What’s more, data can be extremely compelling — and given how many workplaces are remote, there’s going to be more of it emerging. If you can prove that offering work-from-home options will save the company money by reducing turnover, absences, and overhead while actually contributing to a positive culture, your employer will have a tough time dismissing that evidence.
If you’re serious about making an argument for permanent remote work, you’ll need to approach this conversation thoughtfully. Not only should you conduct some research into how much time and money the organization could save, but you should also find out whether anyone else has been granted a permanent remote work position in the past. It may also behoove you to zero in on any work-from-home policies your place of employment currently has; whether they were already on the books prior to COVID or were added in haste when the transition to remote work became a necessity, they may be well worth re-examining.
Once you’ve done this prep work, it’s probably time to talk to your employer. This conversation will probably be a little uncomfortable, as there’ll be a bit of risk-taking involved. Although FlexJobs created an email template you can use when making the request to work from home, you’ll need to schedule a follow-up meeting with your supervisor to lay everything out as an honest conversation or as a real presentation. After all, if you’re trying to demonstrate that communication won’t suffer as a result of remote work, it might be helpful to show that concept in action.
It’s a good idea to outline your proposal of what remote work would look like for you, which should include a tentative schedule. You should also highlight your reasoning as to why this would be beneficial for all parties and data to back up your points (such as accomplishments and improvements you’ve made). This is also the ideal time to show your boss evidence of the research you’ve done, including the right ergonomic furniture to keep you productive and safe, and the best home internet providers to ensure you’ve got a good connection at all times. You’ll want to not only appeal to your boss’s emotions but to also demonstrate your own value as an employee. While it would be nice if your employer would go along with what would make you happy, you need to show how they’ll be better off if you’re working remotely, as well. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to point out how they’ll be helping both your family and their own workers by promoting better health and safety through ongoing remote work.
Ultimately, not every organization will want to make this work-from-home transition a permanent one. But considering that more companies are offering the ability to work remotely to their employees, it might be in their best interests from a purely competitive standpoint. If you’re able to make a captivating argument for continuing to work from home at least through 2021, even on a trial basis, you may be able to create massive changes in how their business functions — and how you feel about your professional life — for the better.
