Remote Work Increases Employee Happiness By 20% — Here's How to Ask For It to Benefit Everyone

Happiness and remote work are strongly correlated, a Tracking Happiness study finds. The organization surveyed 12,455 employees across the globe and found that those who work from home full-time are 20% happier on average than those who don’t.

This, of course, is a significant benefit of remote work — and just one of many. If you don’t have the opportunity to work from home, how do you advocate for yourself and your colleagues and bring it into your organization?

How to ask for remote work

1. Point to the evidence.

Increased happiness isn’t the only advantage of remote work. Studies have found that productivity doesn’t suffer when employees are working from home. There’s also the fact that employers save money, too.

Bring the overwhelming evidence that remote work is good for employees AND employers to your leaders’ attention when making your case. Facts go a long way.

2. Get your colleagues on board. 

Strength in numbers! When you and your coworkers all want the same thing, it will be a lot easier to convince your employer to make your idea a reality. So, ask for support from your coworkers. You might circulate a survey or petition and pitch your idea for a full-time remote work arrangement together. This will help you make your case and show the organization that its employees want this.

3. Suggest starting small.

If your manager shows some hesitation, remind them that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Suggest starting small — perhaps with a hybrid arrangement at first or a month-long trial. That way, leadership at your organization can test out the remote work model without fully diving in, giving them time to see whether or not it works for your particular company. 

Come up with a specific idea for how this will work, including the KPIs your will measure and how you will assess outcomes. Closely track how you and your coworkers are doing so you can provide meaningful data during and after the trial period.

4. Create a formal proposal.

Take the time to make it “official.” By putting in time, effort and research, you will demonstrate how serious you are about the initiative, and your manager will appreciate having access to all the information in one place. It will also be more convincing. Your manager and the company leaders will essentially have less work to do because you’ve already outlined a plan for them. All they have to do is implement it.

Are you ready to take control of your work life and create a better, happier environment for you and your coworkers? A remote workplace could be the start of a more satisfying professional journey.

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This article reflects the views of the author and not necessarily those of Fairygodboss.

Laura Berlinsky-Schine is a freelance editor and writer based in Brooklyn with her demigod/lab-mix Hercules. She primarily focuses on education, technology and career development. She has worked with Penguin Random House, Fairygodboss, CollegeVine, BairesDev and many other publications and organizations. Her humor writing has appeared in the Weekly Humorist, Slackjaw, Little Old Lady Comedy, Flexx Magazine, Points in Case, Jane Austen's Wastebasket, and Greener Pastures. She also writes fiction and essays, which have appeared in publications including The Memoirist and The Avalon Literary Review. View her work and get in touch at: www.lauraberlinskyschine.com.

What’s your no. 1 piece of advice for pitching remote work to management? Share your answer in the comments to help other Fairygodboss members!