On the 16th March 2020, amidst rising Coronavirus cases in the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged everyone in England to work from home where possible, kick-starting the emergence of remote working across the country. In recent years, working from home was already in fact on the increase, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reporting a 658,000 rise in people reporting to have worked from home from 2008 to 2018. However, as many people have returned to work and the country enters a second wave, 24% of workers in the UK are continuing to work remotely, with 26% planning to continue to work from home permanently or occasionally after all lockdown restrictions have ended (per finder.com).
But what does this mean for law firms? Whilst there has been some movements towards a permanent strategy of remote working, with Slater and Gordon closing its London office and reviewing the worker capacity of its six other locations (per Legal Cheek), the question of whether working from home will become a staple of the legal profession post-pandemic remains up for debate. Already, we are beginning to see some detrimental impacts on businesses and transport as a result of remote working, and it remains unclear whether working from home is boosting productivity from lawyers, or integrating the worlds of ‘work’ and ‘home’ to an unhealthy extent.
The Current Position
The stance of law firms at the start of the pandemic was one of remote working and financial uncertainty. On the 31st March, ‘magic circle’ firm Allen & Overy announced a number of measures as its staff worked from home, including the freezing of salaries and the deferring of scheduled bonuses, whilst other firms were forced to resort to layoffs and employee furloughs, including the US arm of firm Womble Bond Dickinson.
For international firms, the pandemic has resulted in the replacement of international travel with online video conferencing. David Metzger, lawyer at Clifford Chance, would fly between Moscow and Istanbul regularly for international projects prior to the pandemic, but is now restricted to conducting these meetings via video call. Furthermore, firm White & Case announced in August ‘remote international seats’ for its trainees, replacing the opportunity for trainees to carry out some of their training aborad as in previous years.
However, as lockdown restrictions eased over the summer months, many firms reopened their doors to employees who felt they could not work from home, amongst these being Linklaters and Slaughter & May (per the Law Society Gazette) and in August, Addleshaw Goddard brought back a third of its furloughed employees. However, for some firms, the transition from remote working to office working has not been so smooth; many firms including Irwin Mitchell have begun redundancy consultations for their employees, whilst other firms have opted to close offices. This includes firm BLM, who took the decision to close their Bristol and Leeds offices in August amidst plans for their staff to work remotely for the foreseeable future (per thelawyer.com).
The Impact on the Work of Lawyers
The shift from office culture to working from home undoubtedly has a huge impact in numerous ways on the work of lawyers, both positive and negative.
It is important to remember that law firms are businesses, trying to increase profitability and maximise their revenues like any other. Therefore, arguably one of the largest questions for firms is whether working from the comfort of one’s home will boost productivity or be bad for business. Whilst one might initially think that the distraction of other household members and the lack of supervision, amongst other factors, might result in less productive working than in an office space, it is reported that two-thirds of employers saw increased productivity from remote workers during the lockdown period, with 83% of employees stating they do not need an office to be productive (per finder.com). In the legal sector specifically, over half of employees felt they were able to get on with their work independently without micromanagement, and over a third felt more likely to experience bullying or harassment in the workplace than at home (per Legal Cheek).
However, the work-from-home experience is not entirely positive for all lawyers. Juggling work-life balance for those in the legal profession has been a struggle for many years, with 22% categorising their work-life balance as bad or very bad in 2019, and attrition rates (the rate of those leaving the profession) for associates being high for some time (per the Law Society Gazette). From this, one might argue that fusing the worlds of work and home would have a negative impact on the profession, reflected by the 22% of workers who cited ‘switching off’ from work as their biggest challenge (per finder.com).
For those living alone, the lockdown restrictions have arguably amplified the loneliness and negative impact on mental health that comes with working from home. In a recent study, almost half of legal professionals stated that they felt more isolated working from home, with approximately 5% of Brits during the lockdown categorised as ‘chronically lonely’. However, for those with or wanting to start families, the pandemic has arguably catalysed the already-growing concept of agile working within the legal profession. In previous decades, the high attrition rates of women in the upper levels of the legal sector could be much attributed to the inability for women to manage both the commitment of a family and the demanding hours of working as a lawyer. However, working from home allows both men and women to work more flexibly and better manage both work and family life, most likely a positive step towards reducing attrition rates and encouraging more women to remain in the profession.
The Impact on Business
The impact of remote working doesn’t just end with lawyers and law firms; the effects of working from home can be seen almost everywhere you look.
One obvious place to start is the impact on public transport. It is reported that the UK’s workers are saving approximately £44 each week on things like travel and buying lunch, and having an extra five hours of free time that they would typically spend commuting (per finder.com). Yet, whilst this is seemingly a great outcome for workers, the impact on transport has been detrimental. Just recently, Major of London Sadiq Khan called for a £5.7 billion bailout to keep Transport for London afloat, with a similar deal having been granted to the national railway system a week previous (per the Financial Times). In recent years, there has also been growing controversy over the planned development of High Speed 2 (HS2), a cross-country rail network that would sharply cut journey times between London and the north of England. Not only has a recent survey indicated that the network would destroy almost 700 wildlife sites and over 100 ancient woodlands, prompting public anger towards the project, but the project’s latest cost figure sits at £106 billion, almost double its original 2015 estimate. With the numbers of commuters rapidly decreasing due to remote working, this raises the question of whether such a costly and controversial project is necessary.
In terms of retail and hospitality, the loss of footfall in city centres has resulted in huge losses and job cuts for businesses relying on the custom of workers, who would often spend money on their work breaks or before and after making their commute. One of the hardest hit businesses has been Pret A Manger; despite recently launching its coffee subscription scheme in a bid to generate more income, it has suffered a massive loss as a result of the pandemic, forcing it to cut over a third of its workforce at 3000 jobs. The same can be seen with WHSmith, who rely heavily on their stores located in train stations and airports – the low footfall in their prime locations may require WHSmith to rethink its business strategy and focus on its high street stores to avoid a redundancy of up to 1500 of its staff, as proposed in its recent consultation (per the Retail Gazette).
However, it might be argued that reduced custom in city centres could act as a saving grace for the slowly-dying high street; working from home will result in more workers remaining in suburban areas instead of commuting to the city, perhaps inducing them to spend their money at smaller, local businesses as opposed to larger city stores. However, it is clear that the high street will always be at a loss to online retail, the growth of which has been catalysed by the pandemic and stay-at-home culture. Online food retailer Ocado, which recently merged with Marks & Spencer, recently overtook the sales of food retailer giant Tesco, highlighting how the emergence of remote retail is just as great as the emergence of remote working.
The future of property and real estate is yet another area unlikely to go untouched by the pandemic and the increase in working from home. In terms of law firms, there has been a huge rise in office closures due to the likely possibility of remote working becoming a permanent feature of the legal profession in the future. Amongst others, it has been announced that firm Slater & Gordon would close their London office when its lease came to an end in September, meanwhile the lack of international travel has resulted in DWF closing its offices in Brussels and Singapore (per the Global Legal Post). These trends in real estate seem to suggest that remote working is here to stay for the foreseeable future, albeit perhaps on a smaller scale if a vaccine is developed and it is safe for in-person office work to resume. This could result in many city centre office spaces going into disuse, opening up the possibility of them being converted into residential properties instead. However, the summer months did see a surge in real estate. Whilst this is likely the effect of pent-up demand during the lockdown and Rishi Sunak’s stamp duty holiday, the pandemic and the emergence of remote working has arguably sparked a movement to the suburbs, as workers do not need to commute to work as often, with the interest in remote working reportedly being “off the charts” (per the Guardian). All of this ultimately points towards the UK’s major cities being much less busy for the foreseeable future.
Is remote working here to stay? The answer to such a question is uncertain; factors such as productivity and the impact on workers' mental health will determine the longevity of remote working as it continues to be put into practice in the coming months. However, what is clear is that the effect of remote working, whether merely a feature of the pandemic or a mode of work that is hear to stay, will reach far and wide beyond the legal profession, having a huge impact on jobs, business and the economy for years to come.
Great article Alice, having worked from home since March lockdown and no sign of returning to the office in the near future, it has proved that work can continue just as efficiently, if not more so WFH and may therefore raise the question are offices really necessary. I agree that many firms may save money by not further renting buildings because staff have proved they can work just as efficiently from home. Also, the valid question of mental health and although it gives flexibility and work-life balance and creates time not commuting, on the reverse it can feel isolating and the home becomes a work place and not a place to relax away from work. This whole thing will no…