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Working from home – out of sight, out of mind?
Nobody knows that you have been taking longer lunch breaks ever since you started working from home. Well, everyone does so. But what your employer doesn’t know is that you still always delivered your work on time. You were never the reason for the delay of work or missing deadlines. But on the contrary, you saved the projects and were integral in their completion. You were always willing to put in extra efforts even beyond the confines of typical office hours.
However, you fear that you are now under the risk of out of sight, out of mind. Your boss might have noticed your performance in normal times, but it does not appear to be so while working remotely. Your suspicion might not be totally unreasonable that working from home is limiting your way up in the firm. But it is not hard and requires a bit of struggle to ensure you get your due consideration for promotion. Here’s what you can do:
1. Praise Your Coworkers
This is an effort that you should always be doing without any expectation of return. But in our scenario, its awards are an added bonus. So, if you praise your coworkers in front of others, they would be happy and try to reciprocate. This enables you to become a prominent figure in the eyes of the managers. You might also want to start networking as well for this purpose.
2. Learn, Grow, and ask for Responsibilities
Since now you are starting to save some commute time, you might want to utilize it to learn a new skill. If a mentor can help you, that’s great. They have the knowledge, skills, and are well connected with people that can help you grow even further. Hence, your opportunities would be numberless. You can also visit online learning platforms such as Coursera or edX. Once that’s done you can comfortably ask for more responsibility. And by extension, a promotion.
3. Note Down your Achievements
This you might want to do at least once a month or after every noticeable achievement. It will help you later when you might be asking for a promotion. Your employer might not remember your central efforts in completing an important project just before the deadline.
How to ask for a Promotion?
Some employers might think you are being provided a facility that you work from home. Yes, you might save yourself some expenses working from home. But also, you save the company even more since the expenses on office rent, electricity, and other basic necessities are not being consumed. In such cases, a little noise is necessary to get what you want.
So, after preparing passively for your promotion (via the above steps), it’s time to ask for the promotion. How would you do that? And especially, considering the dreaded conversation is not face-to-face.
Here’s what you can do:
· First, you need to evaluate the company’s situation. Is it totally remote? If so, then there might already be arrangements for the promotion in place. If not, are they in a position to give you what you want?
· Figure out a perfect time for such a meeting. Everyone hates a Monday morning so you might want to avoid that. Have a look at their calendar and request a meeting at a time when they are free and haven’t been in other meetings that might have ruined their mood.
· Make sure you know what exactly you want. If you want a raise, be ready with the amount. And if it’s a promotion, place forth the responsibilities you can tackle.
· Let them know beforehand the topic of the meeting. It might not prove fruitful if you are hoping to catch them by surprise.
· Try to have a face-to-face meeting. You might not get an in-person meeting but at least get a video call meeting. In all cases, avoid text message or email!
· And finally, bring up your accomplishments that would sway your boss into giving you what you deserve. Remind them that you are working from home beyond the confines of a typical 9-5 routine. Bring forth your hard work and the client’s praises (if any).
In normal times, your bosses would have noticed you but now it doesn’t seem like much of a chance. You might not be getting your well-deserved promotion on its own without you doing a bit more struggle. During all these processes, you must put on a positive attitude. Have a friendly presence and keep smiling. Because a smile is contagious, and your boss might be inclined towards a decision favorable to you.
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