If you aren’t one of the lucky ones that has the option to work from home, you’ve probably been hit with a few reasons from management why working for home isn’t best for you, the company, or the nature of the business.
What if, for each reason management has for you not working from home you could counter with a convincing rebuttal not only for how working from home would benefit you, but how it would benefit the company in the short and long term?
A recent CNN article offered three reasons why your boss doesn’t want you to work from home.
BlackEnterprise.com is offering three reasons why your boss should reconsider.
Boss: If I can’t see you, you’re not working.
Counter: Technically, you don’t see me all day now. Do you not trust my ability to fulfill my work obligations regardless of your presence or absence? If you don’t trust that I can adequately do my job without constant supervision do you think I was the right hire for the position?
Truth: Believe it or not, many employees are more inclined to focus and work harder from home given the stigma of them not working when unsupervised. Oftentimes, when working from home, employees go the extra mile to prove their ability to self-manage through output, accessibility, and productivity. Working from home also allows for a level of focus that may be harder to gain in the office given normal office distractions.
Boss: If everyone telecommutes company culture and collaboration will fall off.
Counter: Technology has made collaborating easier through use of one of the many meeting and resource sharing tools on today’s market.
Truth: This one deserves a compromise. There is something to be said for meeting and cultivating a space of togetherness and community. This space, however, does not take working in-office every day to cultivate. Consider weekly in-office meeting days where teams can come together for face time. That option can provide an optimal mix of social contact and collaboration with colleagues while preserving the time to get individual work done and still meet family obligations.
Boss: We haven’t allowed this in the past, so we can’t start now.
Counter: If your business has learned anything, it’s probably been that in order to sustain you must evolve with the times. Some things you won’t know until you try. If you try and fail, be willing try something else.
Truth: Though there is something to be said for tradition, infusing a constant nature of growth, innovation, evolution, and change into your company can be mutually beneficial.
Bonus Boss Benefit: Overhead.
Companies can potentially save loads of money on overhead by downsizing the office space and allowing telecommuting. Without a full office of employees, five days a week, the employer can save on rent, electricity, maintenance, and other daily amenities.
Bonus Boss Benefit II: Morale.
Understand that a happy, thriving company starts with happy, thriving employees. If your employees are crying out for flexibility, yet your response to that cry is a rigid “no†with no substantial explanation, your employees are less likely to fully invest in your company, as they may not feel reciprocally invested in.
This is important to note as the quality of the work is directly affected as a whole when employees don’t feel regarded. A lack of quality in the work or investment in the company directly affects your company’s bottom line.
If it doesn’t hurt your business to help your employees, why not? If helping your employees, in turn, helps you, all the better.