When the boss orders you to report to work, quit or be fired, is there any possible way to continue working from home? It’s definitely a hot topic as employee-employer tensions about working from home continue to grow. A survey by FlexJobs found that 60% of women and 52% of men would quit if they weren’t allowed to continue working remotely at least part of the time. Additionally, 69% of men and 80% of women said that remote work options are among their top considerations when looking for a new job.
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Bosses are, well, the boss, which means they technically can dictate where you work from as long as you’re working from them. However, there is a strategic way to build a case to continue working from home before you decide to part ways. The following tips will show the person in charge that it’s in the company’s best interest for you to continue working remotely including:
1. Stand out as an enigma: That means shine as someone who actually gets more work done at home than at the office. The reason bosses want you back is that statistics show that people are far more productive at work than in their homes. Be the opposite.
2. Track your productivity by creating a report that measures your effectiveness: Most managers fail to create reporting mechanisms that allow them to see the effective progress of their teams. Taking initiative to create this for them and also showing accountability goes a long way to creating the trust necessary to have special privileges.
3. Collect your work from home wins: Which projects have you completed on time? How many clients have you won? How much money have you saved the company? Track everything.
4. Take on tasks: Find things that aren’t being completed by coworkers and tackle those ASAP. This shows initiative.
5. Make calls: Communication with your boss is key. Let them know you’re looking for other things you can do from time to time (this can be done by email as well).
6. Start talking about it now: Don’t wait for someone to call you back to work before showing initiative and going above and beyond.
7. Make it about them: Figure out what you want and present it in a way that benefits the employer. Figure out what makes you look good to your boss and be a solution for that.
8. Offer a compromise or a trial period: “If I produce at this level for the next month, can we talk about keeping a few days a week working from home?”
People who show initiative and prove they can get things done are rarely let go by companies. Indeed, employers are engaged in one long tireless search for such individuals and it doesn’t serve the interests of the company to let them go. As long as you are one of the people that is always moving the interests of the company forward and making the company a better place in the process, the odds are good that your boss will be looking to make you happy for the long haul.
Author: Zanzibar Vermiglio is an author, corporate trainer and the founder of Zanzibar Enterprises. After skipping college at age 18 to manage companies, he’s since led training programs for over 20,000 people in hundreds of businesses and doubled the size of over 100 companies by focusing on value proposition design and execution, sales planning and operation scalability which includes management architectures. Learn more by visiting zanzibarenterprises.com.
