How to Ask Your Boss for Permission to Work Remotely

Many employers are asking employees to return to work onsite full-time. But many employees have seen the benefits of remote work and want to stay remote, at least part of the time. They like working at home or at coworking locations like My Space Downtown in Panama City.

Others haven’t tried offsite work, yet they may have heard about the advantages of remote work and still want to experience it. After all, the benefits are many:

• With six of 10 Americans now working from home, coworking is experiencing explosive growth. People have grown accustomed to the increased flexibility and shortened commutes.

• Coworking has been shown to improve mental health. There’s a reason that remote workers are 20% happier than those working in offices.

• Coworking is less lonely than working from home. In fact, coworking reduces loneliness by 83%.

If you’re trying to find the courage to ask your boss for permission to work offsite, start by checking whether your company has a remote work policy and if your request will comply (pending approval). Then prepare for the conversation using these five pointers:

1. Have good reasons based on your personal strengths.

Good reasons are reasons of benefit to the company or your boss. Stress your excellent collaboration skills that you already demonstrate with co-workers and clients in other locations. Refer to past performance reviews about how well you work independently and how much initiative you take. Make the decision risk-free for your boss.

2. Be ready with data to back up the positives.

Make this move a win-win for your boss. Assure your boss that approving the request is not unusual. Cite statistics that bosses with remote workers are common. According to a Stanford University study, about 28% of workers work remotely at least part of the time, with 12% fully remote. Even more important to your boss, remote workers are 13-29% more productive than in-office counterparts. This benefit is widely experienced: 77% of remote workers report being more productive.

3. Build your case based on your profession, company and industry segment.

Give examples of how remote work has been successful for others in your profession, in your industry segment and in your company—and explain why. For example, does remote work allow you to be available for a broader span of time to deal with customers or coworkers in different parts of the country?

4. Start with a trial.

Bosses like to start small to minimize risk. Rather than asking to work completely remotely full time, ask for a trial period that begins with one or two remote days a week, and set a date to reconvene and reconsider permission to continue working remotely. Set success metrics that can be measured, such as availability, presence on Zoom meetings, reaching deadlines and completing projects on time.

5. Be willing to face setbacks.

Your boss may say no. Ask if this is a firm no, or if you can bring up the subject again, in a few months, when company conditions may change. Most bosses want to be reasonable. If they are not open to remote work, they may have a good reason. But many times, bosses just need to be educated, and maybe they need some time to think about how their permission will affect other employees.

Generally, over time and in most cases, these strategies should lead to success. After all, you have established that the benefits of working remote are mutual.