Negotiating WFH Post-Pandemic

How The Tables Have Turned

As we are inching our way out of this pandemic and we are going back to PC (Pre Corona) times, it is a good time to ask ourselves if we REALLY should go back to the way things were.

One example: working from home. In the years prior to the pandemic and its WFH orders, the biggest thing after salary my clients wanted to negotiate at work, was working from home / flexible working hours.

Despite excellent arguments, time and time again, their employers refused to honour this simply request without giving proper reasoning. We can only presume that their rejection stemmed from a fear employees would slack if they weren’t supervised during office hours – despite the fact that research and experience showed that the opposite would happen: longer hours + greater output logged when WFH.

Sigh.

Then corona hit and now that their hands were forced, employers seemed to realise that their staff weren’t overgrown children and could in fact be trusted to get their work hours in.

Eighteen months in, now that offices are opening up again, many employers are hella keen to require their staff to trudge their way back to their office desks every day.

Enter: the Great Resignation.

Colour me surprised.

Of course people object to rules that fly in the face of reason! Of course they are hurt when they have proven for 18 solid months to continuously deliver despite trying circumstances, but their managers don’t seem to give a damn!

If you are one of those that resigned over this, or someone who is generally looking for a new role and working from home would allow you to do your best work more than sitting in an office five days a week, here’s my hot tip.

The tables have forever turned.

When negotiating the work set up for your new role, simply assume working from home is a possibility. Don’t make a big deal out of it, and / or “trade” it against lower pay or anything else. Your future employer will have to explain why they wouldn’t allow WFH, rather than the other way around.

There are enough smart companies out there who realise that allowing you to do your best work, requires setting you up in a way that works for you, and they are willing to do it. Go find them.

And employers – if you want to win the war for talent, allowing WFH is an absolute no-brainer.

 I’m here to chat to see if I can help you negotiate your way through this process.