Telecommuting Full-time and Long-Distance: Can It Be Done?

If you've already read my article, How Many Days Working from Home Should You Request?, you know why a full-time telecommuting arrangement has drawbacks.  

But occasionally I hear from individuals who want to keep their current job even though they are moving away quite a distance from where they work. 

This is a tougher application of Telecommuting Flex Success Proposal Template, yet it has proven to be effective. Below are some examples. 

I moved from Houston to Abilene, Texas [375 miles away] and still wanted to work for my employer. They were not willing until I submitted the proposal to the COO of the company with the Flex Success formatting.

I will work from 730 AM to 4 PM Monday thru Thursday and off at 1330 on Fridays...I put in the proposal exactly what I wanted and they gave me everything. Thanks.

Marc E. Amberson
Master Trip Support Specialist
Licensed FAA Aircraft Dispatcher and Aviation Expert
Abilene, TX

Marc told me he'd worked for his employer for 15 years before he moved. And it sounds to me as if his job is quite specialized.

These are favorable negotiating factors, so the proposal's role was to show how the new arrangement would work. And it did.

In the next example, Shannon was moving from Missouri to Maine because of her husband's job. Unlike Marc, she made the pitch to telecommute full-time in her new location before she left, which is what I'd recommend.

Nonetheless, hers was a tough sell, having to go through four higher-ups in three levels of management for a first-time ever approval of telecommuting.

[My immediate boss] was impressed...Unfortunately, she was not the final decision-maker...Our VP...was very impressed with [the proposal's] professionalism, detail, references and quotes...he needed to talk to his boss (the Senior VP) and the CIO (about feasibility of technology and security issues...).

Two days later my VP told me that while he had never allowed an employee to work from a home office and that the idea was very progressive, his answer was "Yes!" The Senior VP and CIO had both approved my proposal.  

I am walking on air and still can't believe my dream has come true! I truly couldn't have made a better impression without the help of Flex Success. [It] gave me the tools I needed to pursue this alternative work arrangement with confidence. Thank you...

Shannon Bryant 
Healthcare Analyst
Chesterfield, MO

Shannon's Flex Success story was featured in the February 13, 2003 print edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Baby boomer Janet wanted to telework from about 100 miles away from her employer to be closer to her elderly parents. She works for the federal government which has telework policies, but she still had to make her case for working remotely on a full-time basis.

I wanted to telecommute full-time in my current job because I was moving to Atlanta from San Francisco. With the Flex Success template, it was easy to just plug in the pieces that related to my job. It also made me really think through what I needed to do to get approval; using Flex Success, I was well-prepared with a strategy and ready answers to my boss's questions and concerns. Bottom-line: my telecommuting proposal was approved. Thank you.

Brad Palmer
Atlanta, GA

If you want to keep doing your job in a full-time, long-distance telecommuting set-up and you're moving away anyway, you have little to lose by making the pitch with a persuasive proposal.  

Here's an an unvarnished description of Telecommuting Flex Success I found on a forum (New window opens; if the link no longer works, let me know and I'll give you a free copy of Flex Success.)

Here are my details on Telecommuting Flex Success Proposal. Or if you can't wait to get started...

One way you can bolster your case is to do some of your job from your current home using remote access. Show your boss now how you can do your job later from a distance using the latest technology.

I recommend GoToMyPC for that purpose. Click here to get your free 30-day trial of GoToMyPC, which allows you to access your work computer from home.

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