Stop Trying to Convince Your Boss to Let You Work From Home

Instead, try to change the way your team works together permanently.  

The Internet is full of advice right now for office workers who want to keep working remotely as managers plan to bring their teams back to full-time in-office work. Dozens of articles are circulating with tips for how to ask your boss to let you keep working remotely.  

Though well-intentioned, almost all of these articles miss the most important thing about today's remote work revolution. It's not about where you work but how your entire team can work better remotely. 

Even if you successfully negotiate your own personal remote working situation while the rest of your team works face-to-face in an office, it can often be a recipe for professional disaster.  

Studies have shown that individual remote workers often feel shunned, left out of important decisions, and are more likely to be passed over for promotions compared to in-office peers. And managers are more likely to see remote employees as more easily replaceable than those they see in person every day.  

So if you've become accustomed to the genuine benefits of working remotely and want to keep it going, what do you need? Not to get your boss to allow you to work from home but convince your boss that your entire team should transition to working fully remote.  

The benefits of an entirely remote team are apparent to everyone after 15 months of remote work during the pandemic. The benefits of a wholly remote team are easy to see after 15 months of work: Higher productivity, increases in sales, higher staff retention, increased ability to recruit talent, less time lost to sick days, significant savings in office space expenses, fewer instances of sexual harassment, the list goes on and on. And many of the drawbacks to remote work (such as lack of reliable childcare) will diminish as pandemic restrictions loosen.  

But these benefits are only fully realized when the entire team has embraced a remote work culture by working collaboratively online (using tools like Zoom, Teams, and others). Every employee is working on an equal playing field, nobody "out of sight, out of mind."  

So stop trying to convince your boss to let you work from home. Instead, think about how you can convince your boss to transition your team to be fully remote (or how can you help them persuade their higher-ups to allow it?) Here are a few ideas: 

1. Do a cost-benefit analysis – How has your team benefited in the past year from working remotely? Can you point to specific examples of higher production? Or staff cohesion? Have you been able to retain or recruit more talent to join? And then what would the cost be of returning to the office? Are there team members who would quit or start looking for other opportunities? Write out some of these in a memo you can share with your boss to clarify the costs and benefits of remote vs. in-office.

2. Show them some examples of success: Companies like GitHub have been fully remote for years with great success. As the pandemic drags on, more and more companies of all sizes commit to staying fully remote. Use sites like Glassdoor or Indeed to find other similar companies to yours that have embraced remote work. Even better if some of these companies are your competitors.

3. Talk with your coworkers: Others on your team likely share your desire to continue working remotely. Talk with them and organize a united front to present to management. Make sure to intentionally check with anyone you think may be on the fence or still want to return to the office. Are there things your workplace can provide that would improve their remote work experience? (such as offering a home office stipend, clarifying communication norms, or organizing an in-person planning retreat?)

4. Show how you'll work effectively remotely – You probably have already developed sound collaborative systems and tools to work this last year remotely. But not as many workplaces have codified those processes and systems into written documents. Write up a few pages outlining the systems you have been using. Explore potential other platforms for how you'll set expectations for availability and run effective video meetings. How about tracking team productivity using a tool like Clickup or Trello or building a solid team culture using Slack or other chat tools? And if you haven't yet developed some of these systems, then ...

5. Get some additional training: Flip the Script has an interactive 10-week course for companies to help them take advantage of all the benefits of a fully remote team. Click here to schedule a call with Flip the Script to hear about coaching and training solutions that are right for your team.