How to negotiate permanent work from home, and why it will benefit your career

Almost overnight, a huge number of businesses adopted remote work in early 2020. As the coronavirus pandemic kept the large majority of people out of offices, it also ushered in a whole new paradigm shift when it comes to our work environment. 

Using software like Slack, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams, companies all over the world can conduct business with their staff entirely online. Studies show that working from home increases productivity, reduces employee attrition, and improves morale. 

“Output often rises when people work remotely,” the New York Times reported. 

It might even improve your career. Most remote workers report less stress working from home and, believe it or not, a better work-life balance. You will also gain valuable experience in managing your own time without the watchful eyes of your boss. And, learning to be independent and a self-starter is a couple of the best career-boosting skills that exist. 

After all, most managers don’t like staff that needs to be micromanaged. 

And if you’ve found that you’re happier and work better when you’re working from home, this might be the perfect opportunity to negotiate a permanent remote work arrangement. 

How to negotiate permanent work from home position

If your job was temporarily turned into a work from home position because of coronavirus, but you would like to make your work from home job permanent, here are four techniques to help you in your negotiations. 

Highlight your accomplishments.

Point to your accomplishments over the last several weeks (or months) as you’ve worked from home. Have you achieved any major milestones? Has your productivity improved? Highlight tangible accomplishments since you started working from home and make it clear why your new home-based environment helped you to achieve those milestones. 

Explain why it makes sense for your position.

Why are you equally (or more) effective at doing your job when you’re not in the office? Can you still do your job when you’re not interacting face to face with your coworkers? If so, detail why that’s true. Be specific, and whenever possible, use examples from your own experience working from home. This might include a discussion of remote productivity tools like Zoom or Microsoft Teams and why they help to make remote work easy and beneficial for employees and the company. 

Propose a work schedule.

Working from home might enable you to start your day earlier (or end it later) due to the lack of a commute. Use that to your advantage by offering a standard working schedule that may benefit the organization as well as improve your own productivity. 

Let your actions speak louder than words.

Assuming that your position is conducive to remote work, there’s nothing more powerful than doing some of your BEST work when you’re at home. Be sure to do great work before negotiating to make your remote position permanent. Make sure you’re available during business hours. Extra credit if you respond to emails and get work done outside of your working hours. In other words, let your work show why you’re responsible and productive enough to permanently work from home.