UK: More than 50 per cent of lawyers want to work from home after the pandemic
More than 50 per cent of lawyers would like to permanently work from home for most of the week once the pandemic abates, RollOnFriday reports.
The website’s poll of over 2,500 lawyers and law firm staff found a significant shift in preferences towards working from home.
Forty-four per cent of respondents said that, even in the long term, they only want to work in the office one or two days a week.
Another 10 per cent said they did not want to go to the office at all. A further 10 per cent said they would like to return to the office full-time.
“WFH had its challenges initially but now I am happy with the balance”, said an in-house lawyer.
“I am fitter, I eat better and I work for less time but in more intense bursts. I have saved nearly £800 (and counting) from not buying diesel for my car. I have also seen my wife and children more in the last three months than I did in the nine months prior to lockdown”.
Some respondents highlighted improvements in their efficiency. “I’ve gone from working 50 hours and travelling 10 hours to working 35 hours and my productivity is up 25 per cent”, said a solicitor.
Others said they would move firms if their employer failed to take WHF seriously.
“I am sceptical that the dinosaurs at my firm will want to change anything, so I’ll try and find a firm which is more amenable to WFH”, said a senior solicitor.
For some, however, the office was a sanctuary. “I can barely afford a room let alone a private home office”, said a junior solicitor at a national firm.
“My days are spent battling noise, bad internet connection, people stealing my coffee and my neighbours having sex. It is not fun”.
Another said: “I hate my family and miss the office romances as an escape.”
For those who wanted to return for part of the week, the main reason was to see colleagues.
“I desperately miss my colleagues and want to return to the office at least part-time for in-person conversations”, said a lawyer.
Another said: “Would be quite happy never seeing my colleagues in the flesh ever again.
“They’re all nice, but video calls work just fine and people can use their break times for something they genuinely want when WFH. Like doing Yoga with Adriene or having banana bread in the garden, rather than miserably bolting down quinoa and kombucha over a keyboard. We see our families. We’re all happier. Except for the old guard who have a cushy pad with an easy commute and no idea what Ctlr+Alt+Del does. But then they are not the future.”