It’s understandable why you want to work remotely permanently but, how do you approach your employer without it ruining your career and relationship with your manager or team?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people have been working from home for the first time. They have discovered the benefits of remote working, including not commuting to the office and having more time to do the things they love in life.

In this article, you will find practical advice on how to convince your boss to allow you to work remotely permanently.

Does your manager trust you?

The first task is, to be honest with yourself.

Are you a hard worker and valued within the company? Does your manager trust you to perform to a high standard on your own initiative? Did you receive positive feedback in performance reviews? Trust is essential when employees are working from home.

Things to think about

Good communication is essential when your workforce is mixed between working from home and in the office. The workflow must continue as it did before so deadlines can be met and the same level of service is provided to clients or customers.

Here are some areas to think about that will come up in discussions.

• What will be your work routine?
• Do you have a good internet connection?
• Are there any distractions for work at home?
• How will you attend meetings and team conversations?
• What is your plan for communication with your team?
• How will you continue to have good relationships with your colleagues?

Write your answers to these questions because you will need to include them in the document featured later in this article.

What are the benefits for the company

The biggest mistake you can make is telling the employer the benefits for you to work from home. Of course, a company who cares about its employees will take this into consideration but, to submit a successful request, you will need to think about the benefits for the business.

Take some time to think about how working from home has helped the company for the role that you perform. Have you found that you’ve been more creative and that has resulted in acquiring more new customers?

Have you found that less in-person meetings have resulted in you being more productive? Really think about the benefits for the company.

Have a quiet word with colleagues

Try and have a quiet word with your colleagues and ask them for their opinion. Do they foresee any problems with you working remotely permanently? Can they think of any issues that would affect them being able to perform their duties from the office?

If the rest of your team is based in the office and you’re at home, really think about how this will impact them and look at potential solutions.

What concerns will your employer have?

Put yourself in the shoes of your boss, and write down a list of reasons why they could reject your request to work permanently from home.

If you think about the concerns and have solutions, you stand a better chance of your request being accepted. Think about the workflow within the team and how it might be impacted by working from home.

The next steps

Create a plan of action: a one or two-page document and include everything mentioned above, including the answers to questions asked.

Also, include the benefits for the company, and solutions to any concerns that you think they might have. Do not write paragraphs of text, make it easy to read by using bullet points. Ask a colleague to take a look over it and suggest any additional information that would benefit your request.

Next, book a meeting with your manager and email them the document, so it is not a complete surprise. Give them time to think about your request and any concerns that need to be discussed.

Be flexible

When you have put in your request to work remotely permanently, make sure you are flexible. Your employer might want you to work from home for a few days a week, or, suggest a trial to see how it works.

Picking the right time to ask

Knowing when not to submit the document and ask for a meeting to discuss is important. Do not pick a Monday morning when most managers are busy catching up with emails and sorting out priorities for the week ahead. Pick a time when your boss is unlikely to be stressed and preoccupied with work.

Avoid occasions, where deadlines have to be met, otherwise, your meeting request, is going to get buried amongst a ton of emails.

Good luck requesting to work remotely from home!