Has anyone asked to go remote? My mom is sick

I work at a mid-sized regional firm like Berkshire or Leonard Green where everyone knows everyone. My mom is sick and I have 6 months left in my 2-yr Associate program. My firm is very big on being in-person but I want to be at home with my mom to help out. I'm a lower/mid bucket Associate but well-liked and known for working hard. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to ask / whether feasible? Has anyone made this ask? If so how did you phrase? Thank you.

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Funniest

This happened to me last month. I wrote an email to my team titled "Family Situation at Home" and explained that my mom had a kidney stone that led to ruptures to her bladder and kidney which led to infection and blood poisoning. My dad needed me to fly back home to help him with being in and out of the hospital. I told them I would take my computer with me and would make myself as easy to reach as possible. My team told me they completely understand and to take all the time I need to be with my family. 

The truth was that I needed to fly to New York to do a 4 hour interview for a PE firm and needed time to practice for the LBO test. The bad karma got back to me and I lost the position to a blonde girl from Cornell. 

 
Fast and Fiduciary

This happened to me last month. I wrote an email to my team titled "Family Situation at Home" and explained that my mom had a kidney stone that led to ruptures to her bladder and kidney which led to infection and blood poisoning. My dad needed me to fly back home to help him with being in and out of the hospital. I told them I would take my computer with me and would make myself as easy to reach as possible. My team told me they completely understand and to take all the time I need to be with my family. 

The truth was that I needed to fly to New York to do a 4 hour interview for a PE firm and needed time to practice for the LBO test. The bad karma got back to me and I lost the position to a blonde girl from Cornell. 

I don’t think you understand the meaning of “this happened to me last month”…

 

Family always come first. God forbid something happens to your mom and you weren’t there for the family so you could show face during the last 6 months of your 2 year stint. You would likely have that deep regret for the rest of your life, while the last 6 months of your associate position would get lost in the wash in the long run. You can still finish strong in a remote setting even if the rest of your team is in person. COVID WFH demonstrated the effectiveness of remote work for all of us. If anyone in the firm pushes back on you for wanting to spend time with your sick mom while still emphasizing you will work hard, they will take significant political damage if word spreads about that (and are just not a good person).

 

Lol at taking "significant political damage." There are far more candidates hungry to enter the buyside or trade up to OP's position then there are seats. They will happily work for this firm and take OP's place. The fact of the matter is OP is still junior enough that he's easy to replace, and the firm won't have any difficulty in doing so. I agree with everyone else that being close to his mom is important, but he needs to be prepared to lose his job over it and look for opportunities closer to home. Acting like the firm will comply to a very difficult demand is ludicrous.

Array
 

This isn't a very difficult demand, there's plenty of ways to work around it and facilitate OP. We all got a shit load done when offices were closed and everyone was WFH, OP's employer and OP can continue to do so if OP is WFH. It will require juggling and a lot of communication between OP and their superiors on deliverables but this absolutely can be done. If I was in this associate's team, I'd be doing what I can to assist them with this difficult situation, whether it's workload or supporting the request internally (assuming OP is liked and hardworking like they've said).

 

You’re just an analyst in banking? It seems you are still a bit inexperienced and relying on the stereotype of a soulless firm that treats juniors purely as resources. That can certainly be the case, but in severe family situations like this, it’s unreasonable for a firm fires someone for wanting to work remote to finish up their last 6 months, especially an associate that has already put in 1.5 years. I’ve seen several instances where firms were accommodating of a serious family situation like this. I think the nuance you’re missing is that this is just for the last 6 months of a two-year program. You think they’re going to fire an associate that’s always wrapping up the two-year program just because of the desire to work remote to be able to spend time with a sick mother? I just want to point this out so you don’t misguide OP with your ridiculous viewpoint and guide him / her to grinding out the last 6 months in person at the detriment of being able to spend time with a sick mother.

 

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