Mailbag: Convincing the boss to let me work remotely

Dear David,

I currently have a job that I really enjoy as a Salesforce Admin/developer. I am planning to move to get closer to my family and I would really like to convince my boss to let me work remotely. What would be the best way to approach this both professionally (showing how trustworthy I am) and just in regard to the Salesforce platform.

Working remotely is not something the company has done before with its employees but that might just be because no one asked.

Thanks a lot,
workingFromHome

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Dear workingFromHome,

I very much respect your wish to be closer to your family and congratulations on securing a job that you sincerely enjoy!

I happen to have a friend who successfully went through this process recently – and also at a company that has never had a remote employee before. Here’s how he did it:

Work hard and follow through on your commitments. This one goes without saying.

Become a remote employee – gradually. It’d be tough for a manager to suddenly have an employee go remote 100% of the time. Start by asking to work remotely maybe just one week a month, with the understanding that if things go smoothly, you’ll gradually increase the percentage of time you’re remote. Offer to always come back X times a quarter and any time during emergencies.

Be extra communicative! Aside from the worry that a remote employee will work less, one of the big disadvantages of going remote is reduced team collaboration. So join your boss and/or team members on frequent video chats! Summarize your weekly accomplishments with your boss! Respond to emails quickly! If you don’t already have weekly 1 on 1s, schedule them!

Focus on your family. Stress that this is a serious family decision and it would be difficult for you to be focused/satisfied on the job if you weren’t remote. This subtly implies that you’d consider another job if the remote thing doesn’t work out, and given the difficulty nowadays in finding good Salesforce professionals, your boss would have a hard time saying no.

you.workingFromHome = true;
update you;

Let me know how it goes!
David

August 2015 update: workingFromHome has successfully convinced the boss to let him work from home! Bravo sir!

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