Improving Hybrid Workplace Culture for Law Firms
Improving and preserving law firm cultures in the hybrid work era
The past several years have ushered in sweeping changes to where legal professionals spend their work week. According to the Legal Sector Trends Report 2024, law firm employees are now working an average 3.2 days a week in the office.1 They spend the remainder of their time working remotely, whether from home, court, or a client’s office, or while travelling. Although employees have largely embraced the flexibility of hybrid work, the changes have introduced a layer of complexity that can be difficult to manage. Last year, 11% of the employees involved in the research said they were struggling with hybrid working.
Many firms are struggling with it too, having to juggle needs that may seem contradictory. For instance, they may feel the need to reinforce their organisation’s culture for a workforce that spends less time together, but also to adjust their culture to better support their employees’ mental health. They may want to retain qualities that have strengthened the firm in the marketplace, yet also demonstrate an ability to evolve with changing employee needs. They may prioritise retaining senior talent and providing the support and mentorship that junior employees need, but also strive to offer the flexibility and balance that new recruits expect from potential employers. Hybrid work can be a help in some of these areas and an obstacle in others.
“It’s difficult at this stage to fully understand the long-term impacts of remote work and supervision on law firms, but it’s clear that when people within a firm are operating at a distance for some or all of the week, it can be more challenging to maintain a firm’s values and culture – and to make improvements in those areas where needed,” said Sharon Glynn, managing director at Travelers Europe. “At the same time, if firms can find ways to stay connected with employees and aware when people need guidance or other support, they have opportunities to reinforce the elements that make a firm what it is.”
Looking at culture in a new way
Before firms set out to reinforce their values and culture, it may be useful to determine what aspects are most important to preserve – and if these can be promoted in ways that accommodate employee flexibility. On the surface, bringing employees together more often sounds like a logical means of imparting a firm’s values and culture, but if it comes with continuous monitoring of employees’ comings and goings, those efforts may backfire.
Indeed, Elizabeth Rimmer, chief executive of LawCare, said the push to bring employees back to the office comes with its own risks. In a recent report from the Law Society Gazette, she explained that when law firms monitor office working, they risk creating “distrust, which can lead to anxiety and stress, undermining mental health and job performance.” Matthew Kay, partner and managing director at Pinsent Masons Vario in London, wrote in the same report that law firms and in-house teams are at a critical juncture when it comes to hybrid work. “A hardline push for office attendance risks reinvigorating presenteeism, rather than the purpose of enhancing company culture, collaboration and development,” he said. “To employees, a mandatory push for office working could appear as a manifestation of the corporate anxiety that employees cannot be trusted.”2
This places law firms in the position of ensuring in-person work feels less like an exercise in micromanagement and more like a critical means of supporting an employee’s engagement and development.
“Law firms are currently looking for ways to ensure days in the office can provide opportunities to mentor junior lawyers and collaborate as teams, with days at home allowing more time and flexibility to complete work,” Glynn said. “Firms that can find effective ways to navigate remote work and supervision – all while managing and monitoring the risks that can arise when employees are working either from home or onsite – are likely to become employers of choice at a time when employees clearly value flexibility.”
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Sources
1 https://www.oneadvanced.com/trends-report/sector-trends-reports-2024/?utm_source=selfgen&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=SectorTrends23-24Launch&utm_term=Legal
2 https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice-points/presenteeism-has-changed-you-need-to-adapt/5118937.article
