7 Smart Ways to Negotiate More Flexibility at Work ...

1. Talk to Your Boss

You should never be afraid to talk to your boss when you need something, no matter how intimidating he or she might be. If you love your job and you’re good at it I’m sure your boss already knows how important you are for that company so they must care about your comfort or your happiness. So, a simple conversation with your boss can be one of the best ways to negotiate more flexibility at work. Explain how important it is to allow you to have a more flexible schedule and how much more your productivity will increase afterwards. Once they see your results, I’m sure they will agree with you. Don’t be scared, you can do it!

2. Assess Your Job

If you feel a little overwhelmed lately by everything you do while you’re at work, try to assess your job and write down on a little piece of paper everything you currently do at your job. Which of those things do you think you can do at home? Try to think things through in an objective manner so if you do manage to obtain more flexibility at work, you should be able to do all those things from your home. Try to be realistic and don’t act on impulse instead of thinking things through first.

3. Try to Offer Examples

If you’ve found the courage to talk to your boss and you’re now negotiating a more flexible work schedule, then you should have done your homework first in order to be more convincing. Do some research and find other people in your field who have managed to obtain amazing results by having a more flexible schedule and by doing certain tasks from their homes. Help your boss see that you can do a terrific job by having more flexibility, since others did it too.

4. Try to Create a Proposal

The best way to avoid your boss rejecting your pitch is by creating a well-structured proposal to present all the benefits you and the company could obtain if you had more flexibility at work. Try to write down your ideas and make bullet points so you’ll highlight all those benefits because this will also show your boss that you really thought think through before making this proposal and that you really are serious about it.

5. Propose a Trial Period

If after you’ve presented all your arguments to your boss, they are still not willing to give you more flexibility at work, try to propose a trial period so you could prove that doing certain things from your home will not influence your job performance and that it might even increase it. This way, you’ll have more chances to get what you want and your boss will not be disappointed.

6. Be a Professional

Even if your boss rejected your proposal the first time you’ve talked to them, try to stay positive and act like a good professional. If you manage to maintain your professionalism despite the fact that you didn’t get what you wanted, you’ll be more likely to impress your boss and you’ll accomplish your goal in the future. So, show you are a serious, reliable and hard-working person that knows what you are talking about and maybe you’ll even get a second chance and obtain a more flexible work schedule.

7. Keep Your Personal Reasons Private

Whatever might be your reason for trying to obtain more flexibility at work; try to keep it strictly business and keep your personal reasons private when you’re asking your boss to allow you to do certain work related things from home. This way, your boss will see that you’re not influenced by your personal problems and that you do think about your company’s results and success.

Despite of what you might think, it’s not impossible to obtain more flexibility at work. You just need to try hard enough and stay positive. Have you ever tried to negotiate a more flexible schedule? How did you do it? Please share your experience with us in the comments section!

Sources:
salary.com