Working from home or working remotely has become the new normal. Over 60% of companies allow their professionals to work away from the office for at least one day in a week. The number of remote workers in an organization depends on the workplace policies that the institution runs on.

As an employee, if you had to choose between a company that allows you to telecommute and another that requires you to spend 6-8 hours at the office, I know you would settle for the one that allows remote work.

Fortunately, there is another way to enjoying the flexibility that comes with remote work even if your employer has no such policy. This post unveils some handy tips that can help you talk your boss into promoting remote work.

3 tips on how to convince your employer to let you work away from the office

1. Prove your productivity

   The first step is to prove your productivity whether you are working remotely from the office or not. Your boss needs to have an assurance that you can deliver, from wherever. For instance, when you take a day off for some reason, ensure that your tasks are not re-assigned to someone else. Work on delivering as per the expectation even if you did not report to work; make sure your boss knows this.

   With this, your employer will build trust in your productivity; that it does not matter whether you are at the company’s premises or not. This shows that you are a reliable person keen on meeting deadlines.

2. Present an emergency response plan

   You should make your employer understand that you will only be away from the office but will be able to connect with everything that is happening there. For instance, show how you would be able to show up for an emergency meeting should there be any, or how you would make timely correspondences.

   Although you will be working away from the office, your employer needs the assurance that you are just a call away.

3. Do your research

   Working remotely is going to change a lot about the way you relate with other employees and heads of the department. You need to conduct personal research on the possible issues that may emerge from your physical absence and how you intend to handle them.

   For example, cybersecurity is one of the issues that remote workers must be aware of. Therefore, you should be aware of the possible risks that you may encounter while working remotely and how you will keep company information safe even without close monitoring by the IT department.

Let’s look at some of these risks and how you can handle them.

3 risks of working remotely

1. Using unsecured devices

   While working remotely, an employee may use unsecured devices to access confidential company portals. By so doing, you will be exposing the company data to spyware and malware invasion.

2. Access of information by third parties

   This may result from sharing work devices during remote work. Allowing a friend to use your work gadget exposes confidential work data to third parties.

3. Using unsecured public networks

   While working remotely away from the office, employees tend to connect to free public networks. This may seem like an ideal alternative that saves on their data plans, but it exposes company information to spies who are always preying on unsecured networks.

5 security tips to keep your information safe while working remotely

While presenting your proposal, consider letting your employer know that the following measures will help keep your work devices and information safe while you are working remotely.

1. Installing antivirus and malware protection

   You should purpose to equip all devices with updated antivirus software and malware detectors. This will go a long way in blocking any malicious attacks that may be launched on your business profile by hackers.

2. Use work devices for work purposes only

   You should assure your employer that you will not expose company information to friends or other members of your household. You are the only person who should access the work devices and for work-related purposes only.

3. Encrypt your traffic using a VPN

   With a VPN, you will be able to encrypt all your data transfers on the internet. By downloading a VPN on your device your employer can rest easy knowing that all your traffic is channeled via a secure and encrypted connection irrespective of whether you are using unsecured public Wi-Fi.

4. Download software from accredited sources

   It is necessary to keep updating your devices’ software, but it is more important to get these new patches from legit sources. Counterfeits do not offer the desired results that the publisher may have intended in the latest release.

   They may also come with some malware that secretly collects information from your device or interferes with its functionality.

5. Choose your work access services judiciously

   Working from home necessitates instant messaging, file sharing, video conferencing, and other services that are an aid to business connections. Remote workers should only settle for reputable services like zoom and slack which are not only business-friendly but also have a lower risk of access by hackers.

Conclusion

For your employer to allow remote work, you need to convince him that you are not only focusing on your personal interests but those of the organization as a whole.

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