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This is a Dilemma I've been fighting for some months now. I was recently hired as a Developer and I have a Team who's based onshore while I am their first and only offshore personnel in the team. We have provisions (Laptop, VPNs) to Work from home (WFH) and while I didn't have those provisions yet, I went to the office everyday. Since I got my provisions, I rarely go to the office since i basically have everything i need to do my work.

I haven't been going to the office for the past two months because:

  1. I don't have team members in the office / in the country
  2. I usually work almost 'round the clock (to somewhat compensate for me being WFH all the time).
  3. I get to spend less time in traffic, thus, no tardiness.
  4. I'm a First-Time Dad of a newborn and live alone with my Wife (she needs a hand at home).
  5. I feel I'm more productive at work when i'm working from home because of #2 and #3.

No one really questions me but I somehow feel guilty about it since I used physically go to the office. My Onshore Manager knows I work from home, but I'm not sure he knows how often. To give context, I had the following casual conversation with my Manager once during a Skype Call:

Manager(MM):"So, when did you last report to the office?"

Me (ME): "I think it was last November. (Chuckle)"

MM: OK, No Worries, I was just checking if you've already met with ... "

and the conversation continues unrelated to me working from home.

What is the best approach I should take to request if I could permanently work from home?

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    What offshore office would you report to? Does the company have an office in your locale? When I read "offshore", I interpret that is there being no office where you are. My company has offices around thew world and one of the members of my team works out of London, while the rest of my team is in our NJ facility. I don't consider the London team member to be "offshore"
    – cdkMoose
    Jan 5, 2017 at 18:53
  • @cdkMoose, my situation is similar to your London personnel. We have an office branch in our country.
    – user62478
    Jan 5, 2017 at 19:27
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    As @JoeStrazzere says - the person to ask here is your boss. We can only guess; your boss will give you a definitive answer.
    – Laconic Droid
    Jan 5, 2017 at 21:32
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    It is never OK to assume you can work from home all the time. That is a management decision not an employee decision. If you want to do that, then you need it approved in advance.
    – HLGEM
    Jan 5, 2017 at 23:19
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    It seems you're already working from home with your manager's approval. I'd do a quick chat to ask, in retrospective, whether the current arrangement suits him and whether it can continue until further notice. A bilat/update meeting would be a good moment. If yes, if you want you can ask if a permanent agreement is possible, or if he expects future projects may require onsite presence. Personally, I wouldn't ask for "permanent" unless you plan major changes in your life that need that assurance (moving, selling car, etc)
    – mtone
    Jan 6, 2017 at 20:28

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First of all, let me second the commenter that said you shouldn’t have worked from home for two months without someone’s explicit approval. It is borderline unethical and unprofessional (I am coming from management perspective on this). So, I would be weary about approaching any manager now with this request because you may be viewed as having abused the company’s trust in you. That said, to make the request, I would approach the manager you feel best understands your needs (it looks like your onshore manager) and ask them explicitly making the case that you just made:

Dear Onshore Manager,

I know that most people don’t get this privilege, but I wanted to know if it would be okay if I worked from home fill-time. I am committed to making sure that all of my tasks are completed on time, and doing so will also help me be available for my on-shore team during the hours of __ to __ more often than not.

Of course, I am happy to work from the workplace or to be present in person whenever needed. Please let me know if this would be okay with you, and I will speak with __ to get his/her approval as well.

Sincerely,

Once you get the onshore manager’s approval, you can approach your office manager letting them know that you spoke with the onshore manager and have his support/approval. But, be prepared to take no for an answer. Your office manager could see this as a bad precendent that if he/she allows you to work from home, he/she will have to allow others to work from home as well (as a manager, it is a huge headache to hear employees complain “But so-and-so gets to work from home, why can’t I?”). The other tack to take is to let your office manager know that you are doing this to be available on the same schedule as your onshore team (if that is really your intent).

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    Thank you for this. I actually don't have an "office manager" since I'm the only one from our team who's based on a different country. I completely understand the issue when it comes to giving only certain employees perks. Certainly will raise some eyebrows.
    – user62478
    Jan 9, 2017 at 15:55
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    Approaching it from a managers perspective, there is nothing unethical in what OP is doing, borderline or not. They are getting their work done, their current manager is clearly happy with them and that should be the only consideration. The office manager should be told to jump in a lake if they don't like it. Office managers aren't responsible for the projects being completed, they can go mall cop somewhere else. It's up to OP's manager to rein in his work at home time if they so choose, no one else need be involved.
    – SafeFastExpressive
    Oct 7, 2018 at 1:32
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I kind of agree that you should have had the approval already. Obviously when you mentioned how long you have been working to your manager, he may have said okay, because he really didn't know if it had been approved or not. If there I'd a Human Resource personnell, you may want to check with them first, then go back to manager, and have alll three agree on all terms.. I am also wondering what happened to the use of meetings to bring u work iissues, whether teleconferencing or in person.

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