Liz’s Story
Liz works in administration, supporting the sales department. She streamlines the processing of orders, arranges meetings, sets client appointments, and makes sure the sales manager spends enough time with each rep on the road. She is the liaison between the sales department and every other part of the company. Often she is able to answer the questions that come from the service department, marketing, or upper management without interrupting the sales team at all. She is a valuable member of the team.
Liz is also a caregiver. Her mother, Margaret, lives about an hour away. Liz oversees Margaret’s medical care, the logistics of the household, and provides emotional support. As a result, Liz does a lot of driving. She makes the 2 hour round trip at least 3 or 4 times a week. Often, after work, this means she returns home after midnight, hoping to get enough rest to manage on her job the next day. As time passes, Liz realizes that it would be much easier to oversee her mother’s care if they lived together. Liz has a small city apartment, but her mother remains in the family home just outside of town. There is more than enough room for Liz to move back to her family home if she could find a way to cut the commute.
Liz has a plan. She believes that the technology she uses on her job would easily allow her to work from home. Also, she would need to attend a few in-person meetings, but for the most part, everything is already completely remote. She talks with people on the phone and uses the company’s software and email programs for normal communications.
The only difference would be where she is sitting while she does her job and the fact that her office desk would be empty. It is time to approach her boss about the plan. Fortunately, Liz knew enough to discuss her idea with a friend who is in business. They discussed how this is a solid plan from the company’s point of view, and that Liz need not apologize for “needing a favor” to be able to “go home to take care of her mother”. They discussed how “begging” was not a good approach. Liz was a bit surprised that her initial thought was to take that approach. She first just thought that telling her boss the situation and asking him if he could do her this favor would be enough. But, her friend was right.
This was not a favor. This is a business negotiation. She needed to approach it like a business negotiation. Also, she worked around salespeople enough that she had an idea of how that worked. She knew she needed to think of a reason why this was a good idea for the company, and not just for her. Then it dawned on her. The sales team was short of space.
They were always trying to cram into a small meeting area, and by adding the area her desk takes up they would finally have enough room. So, she called a meeting with her boss. She started with the fact that she felt she had a solution to 2 issues. The first being the lack of meeting space. She then, quickly outlined the fact that she has caregiving responsibilities that are making “a remote position look more desirable as the next step in her career”. She asked simply, “Do you think there is any possibility that my job could be transitioned to work more remotely?”
Admittedly, she was startled by his answer. He just said, “Sure. Make me a list of whatever you need and how soon you can give up your desk. I’ll get you what you need, and get someone in here to take the desk… unless you want to take that with you.” She was so startled that she asked, “Don’t you need to check with somebody?”. He just laughed and said, “No, how I run my department is my choice, and I choose to support your effort as a caregiver. And you’re right, the extra space will be great.”
Now, it doesn’t always go as well as it did for Liz, but the message is clear. Asking for support in caregiving is not about asking “for a favor” or “begging”. This is a business negotiation that is based on what is best for the company and the employee. Find a benefit for the company, including retaining the employee, and the negotiations go much smoother.
