Asking to Relocate / Go Remote
I've seen a lot on here recently about RTO. Tangentially related - I would like to create thread on those who have successfully been able to duck that, and further, have been able to successfully pitch to be remote.
My situation: I work in acquistions at a MM REPE shop in SF and am coming up on 4 years at the firm. Love the job / company and recently got promoted where I'll be earning carry in our latest fund... I'll be 29 next month, am still single, and am at my wits end living in this city much longer. I have made the ask before to relocate to our office in LA (hedge fund, not RE, shot down for a legit biz reason), so I don't think it will come as a big suprise. We are a satellite office here and are a tight knit group. Having tried asking once before with more of a business angle, I wonder if just trying from a human / man-to-man perspective that I am unhappy here will be enough?
If anyone has pulled this off, what were logistics? I would be willing to travel back to SF as often as needed. Maybe even keep an apartment here. I do think there is value in having some face time (side note: I will see higher-ups often as we travel to cities for site visits).
Thank you if you've read this far. Any advice helps.
At 4 years I think you have plenty of seniority to ask / explore. SF and LA are not that far apart and you could come back a few days a month without a problem. Acknowledge that it didn't happen last time, but you are really looking to get out of SF and would like to stay with the fund, and are willing to work out a schedule out of the LA office with coming to SF 3 or 5 days a month (all at once)
I think asking to go full remote is a harder ask and will hurt your career if everyone else is in office. But SF -> LA is a hop skip and jump away especially if there's already an office there
I do that flight often. It’s often less than an hour. With precheck it’s nothing
Did that flight once too, great w/ PreCheck - right up there with DCA to LGA which I've done countless times. Wonder if they ever complete that damn HSR in Cali if it'll be a viable alternative to flying, but who knows.
My two cents on the HSR is I'll believe it when I see it. I've heard from some that the government doesn't have the necessary land rights to lay all of the tracks. Not sure how true that is. I tend to think that O&G and airline lobbying have played a big part.
Thank you all. Eloquence, I completely agree with the idea of coming to SF like a week per month. Hashing out the logistics of that (flights, hotels vs apartment, etc. and what will be reimbursed) will be another discussion and is why I posed the question if anyone had a blueprint remote plan that they had gotten approved.
Going off of that and to your point about seniority, I view this all as a negotiation. I think location, time back in SF, salary (I'm due for a raise as my base is bit under-market for SF), and expense reimbursements are all up for debate and I would compromise in certain areas to improve others. I suggested LA the first time around for all the reasons mentioned: easy flight, have office, major market. The office, interestingly, was the pushback. I mentioned this was a seperate strategy. Me sitting there would mean that 20% of their prime Santa Monica rent (I'd be 1 of 5 people there) would be a direct hit to our P&L. My boss said to me, "you're welcome to sit there if you want to make a $100k less" lol. I'd be down with LA, but if I have to be west coast I'd probably lean towards San Diego or Colorado (where I am from).
I hate talking this much about myself, but hopefully that is helpful color.
The 100k office cost to your group for you to sit in LA is a big deal, and you should have included that in first post. There is no win for firm to take on that cost and laughable to think they would in 2023. An I missing something? What are you giving in exchange?
Start looking for another job.
It doesn't actually cost them $100k to have the guy in LA though, the other team's office would still be there without him... I get resource allocation but it's all the same firm. this is essentially an accounting issue and feels like a MM shop should be able to smooth this over better. Just seems silly to lose someone tenured over something like this
You're right the LA office rent was the hang-up the first time (or at least a cop out to shoot down the request) . Having since been given carry, the company has voiced their commitment to me long-term and it would be personally unwise to walk from that potential upside. With these facts in mind, that is why I brought up the idea of simply asking the company to allow me live elsewhere with no direct quid-pro-quo. I am aware they'd be doing me a personal favor, and maybe I'd forgoe a raise, have to pay for my flights back, or whatever, but all of that is up for discussion. Idk what the size of your bank is, but humbly I am not some easily replaceable cog in a massive machine. Having failed in the LA office approach and based on some of the feedback I've read on this post, I think being respectful, amenable, and not a pussy is the best strategy I got.
An aside: covering acquistions for the entire western US, there is value in having some elsewhere for networking and DD purposes that is not easily quantifiable until a deal is closed
Why do you think LA will be a better quality of life than SF? Frying pan into the fire imo...
For a single 29 year old straight guy, LA is so much better than SF and it’s not even close. If you’re talking about homelessness or whatever, I don’t really feel about arguing about it… but LA feels miles ahead on that front as well.
^what he said. Weather to boot.
San Diego is better than both if that can be swung.
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