How To Get A Promotion When You Work From Home

What's not to love about working from home? It allows you to savor piping hot morning cappuccinos at your own pace and snuggle with your cat while typing reports from under a fluffy blanket. Unfortunately, the comfort of a home office might come at the expense of a promotion. When individual contributions become harder to recognize due to a lack of on-site presence, getting a promotion becomes more challenging. For instance, between 2020 and 2021, promotions worldwide plummeted by 48%, an Ascend study from Harvard Business Review found.

Despite less connection with coworkers, promotions are certainly not out of reach for teleworkers who can prove their mettle. In fact, a fair number of workers find telecommuting a boon to their careers. According to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey querying U.S. teleworkers, 44% of participants said that working remotely made it easier for them to get their job done.

So, what are the things you can do to advance in your job from the comfort of your home?

Promotions are bound to land in the laps of those who can showcase their productivity in visible results no matter where they work. According to a 2015 ConnectSolutions survey, 77% of respondents who worked remotely a few times every month saw higher productivity. Among them, 30% reported completing their assignments faster and 24% accomplishing more within the same time. If you're naturally introverted, busy taking care of your kids, or having mobility difficulties, remote working might be the perfect opportunity to up your game.

"I was just doing better work," 35-year-old Princess Pierre from Florida told Bloomberg. "In my particular field, it's easier to write in my home space." While telecommuting, Pierre managed to move from a public relations coordinator role to a specialist position with a pay raise.

To ensure your employer knows what you're worth, step up to the mark and stay on the radar. Frequently update your management on what's in your pipeline, bounce initiatives around, and offer to lend an extra hand where needed. At the same time, discuss your growth opportunities with your supervisor at least once every quarter. In particular, ask them what criteria you need to meet to merit promotion, follow their instructions, and document your progress. In doing so, you make your capabilities, productivity, and career goals more visible to your boss.

As an African proverb goes, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." If you want to move up the corporate ladder, therefore, you have to do more than your share of work, Glassdoor points out. For instance, consider reaching out to your coworkers, sharing valuable tips, and helping them achieve their goals. Whenever possible, share desirable tasks, give credit, and extend words of encouragement.

Build testimonials of your work ethics from others, and you'll become the go-to coworker people want to work with, per Career Tool Belt. In a remote work setting, your ability to work as a team is just as important as your ability to work independently.

Working from home comes with lots of hurdles, but you don't have to let them deter you from enjoying your work and demonstrating success. When all is said and done, if you're not getting what you put in the effort for at your current job, you might want to consider moving on to another company or climbing up a different ladder.