Covid-19 will change our attitude to remote working forever

There’s currently a great deal of fluidity around measures that are being, or will be, introduced to help businesses cope during this unprecedented time. While we wait for the government’s response on a number of issues, one thing is clear – the outbreak is having a drastic effect on the way businesses work, including law firms.

As organisations around the world are temporarily closing their offices and asking employees to work from home, attitudes to flexible working are changing. There may previously have been a number of employers that were dubious about the effectiveness of working from home, but are now seeing that it is possible for particular businesses to operate in this way.  

Beyond this current period –  where remaining at home is key to tackling the spread of the virus – it is likely that there will be a long-term change to the way that businesses operate. Many organisations may review their method of working and start to embed the new styles that they are currently adopting.

Firms that had not previously invested in the technology to support remote working have now had to in order to continue operating. They have had to ensure that:

• their lawyers are properly equipped to work from home; and
• their communication networks are fast enough and enable everyone to stay connected via different platforms, while maintaining high levels of cyber security.

Once firms have invested in this new technology, they can then use it to support and shape future working styles.

There’s also a competitive element that will drive this transformation – for example, firms that aren’t keeping pace with the need to support remote working will find themselves in a difficult situation. A new norm is being created and not being properly equipped to handle this seismic shift in working practice means businesses may fall behind. 

Many have been drawing comparisons to the 2008 financial crisis and looking for lessons on how best to proceed when there is so much economic uncertainty that is likely to lead to permanent change. In the legal sector specifically, big businesses made changes post-2008 crisis to the way they chose firms to represent them. For the first time ever, general counsels (GCs) of the world’s biggest companies experienced such tight budget constraints that they began to take on firms outside of the magic circle for certain matters. During this period, they found that these firms could do for them just as well, if not better, than the magic circle firms and, as such, still use them today. It had a genuine lasting impact on the legal services market and GC buying habits. 

There have been increasing conversations around work-life balance and flexible working for several years now and the legal sector in particular has very much been at the cusp of embracing these new modern working practices. The current crisis is going to completely change the shape of the workplace, in and outside of law. We should all be thinking about where we fit into that new world and how the landscape might shift.

Matthew Kay is the managing director of Vario at Pinsent Masons.