5 ½ ways to convince your boss to work remotely and pay for coworking

Your boss probably doesn’t want to think about you working from home in your pajamas or taking conference calls with barking dogs in the background. So, if you’re ready to take the leap and reap the benefits of working remotely, here are some tips for convincing your boss that it’s a good thing for the company and for you.

Coworking is good for at-home workers and road warriors

We all know that even the best digital nomads and roaming workers can easily get distracted when working from home or in a café. Noisy cappuccino makers or a crying baby does not make for great ambiance on a conference call. Having a dedicated workspace with reliable high-speed internet access and a quiet professional place to take meetings allows you to put in a focused and efficient workday.

According to Deskmag, employees who switched to coworking rather than commuting to the office experienced 23% more productivity than their office working counterparts.

Coworking helps remote teams and independent contractors working with larger corporate clients

Video calls are convenient for team communication but for problem solving and trouble-shooting, there’s nothing like in person collaboration and face to face communication. People tend to be more creative and come up with solutions more quickly in real time. For vendors, consultants or freelancers working with larger clients in business, tech or healthcare industries, having a professional place to meet with a local business address goes a long way with corporate clients and gives their HR departments a greater comfort level.

Coworking can help companies test new markets

Coworking is a great way to test a new market or location for the business. Short term shared office space and coworking saves companies money on opening a new office. Typical costs involved with setting up a new location become prohibitive as the company must commit to long-term leases and commit capital against lease obligations. Ongoing operational costs (internet, equipment, furniture, coffee service and janitors) can be as high as $30,000 to $60,000 per year and finding the right space and negotiating leases is a huge time sink. By coworking or having a short-term lease in a shared office, the company can test market and later scale to a bigger space if successful.

Before your ask the boss…

Bottom line is before you can ask your boss to support your request to work remotely, you need to have a track record of being a trustworthy, high-performing employee. Before they let you work outside of the office, you need to show that you’re already a productive team member and have demonstrated your commitment to the company and have taken initiative in other areas and past projects.

Have a plan

1. Ask to meet with your boss or the decision maker. Set aside about 30 minutes for your meeting and get it on your calendars so it’s taken seriously and not seen as a casual chat or pop-in.
2. Be prepared by having a proposal for how you will work remotely. Share with your boss a document that addresses some of the concerns they may have. Describe how you will communicate and be accessible (Zoom or GoTo Meeting for conference calls). Share how you will manage your tasks and check in with coworkers, teams and your boss (Asana or Slack for project management and collaboration). Identify the major projects or tasks you will achieve in the next few months while working remotely.
3. Outline a check-in meeting or call on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis as needed.
4. Don’t be afraid to send useful (not annoying) email updates letting your boss or coworkers who may need to know about the status of the projects you’re working on during your remote days.
5. Frequently communicate and stay in touch with your boss, other managers and coworkers so you don’t become out of sight, out of mind. Make it easy and comfortable for people to call or chat just as though you were there in the office with them.

Bonus tip:
Scout out coworking and shared office spaces that would be a good fit for you with pricing. Showing your boss that you’ve done the homework and having an idea of the costs can only help your cause. Coworking spaces that are central to major airports may make the coworking space more appealing.

You may not get a ‘yes’ on the first try, but have patience and continue to prove your value and ability to excel and tackle big projects without hand holding. You may even want to suggest a trial period to test out the remote working plan to show that it’s feasible.

Ready to work remotely?

If you’re looking for flexible office space and want to be part of a growing community of fun business people who’ve been down the road of startups and also starting new side hustles, come by for a tour at Social Workplace and check out the space!