Peer to Peer Magazine

P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | S P R I N G 2 0 1 9 49 on at 9 am. Being able to work from home so early in the morning is also very helpful when coordinating with foreign associates. Another finding was that remote workers were more productive because they had no unnecessary interruptions — or fewer interruptions compared to working in the office. Certain types of tasks such as preparing a preliminary amendment tend to be completed more quickly if staff members are able to focus. We also found that employees working from home 2-3 days a week became better at time management and were quick to adapt. Whenever they were confronted with tasks, such as printing invoices, which needed to be handled in the office, they would make a note of it. Then the next time they were in the office, they would dedicate their first hour to printing invoices. Individual team members — as well as managers — started to become savvy about identifying which types of tasks were appropriate for remote working and which were not. Eventually, the goal was to amend roles so that remote workers and office-based workers could focus on different types of tasks. To address this, we undertook two pilot programs to assess the impact of remote working. Two different groups were asked to work from home two days a week, for one month each. In both cases, productivity improved by 100%. That's not a typo — output per employee doubled —and we had clear before-and-after data on performance metrics to show that. And by repeating the pilot twice, we were able to demonstrate that the results were not a fluke. Based on this clear and overwhelming success, firm management then asked us to formalize a remote working policy and program. Business benefits of remote working for IP prosecution practices So why was there such a dramatic improvement in productivity? One of our key findings was that remote working helped expediency. Some IP prosecution staff members would log in and work from home early in the morning — ensuring that everything would be ready for the attorney to review once he or she logged Over time, we also found that remote working led to greater retention. Staff who were given the flexibility to work from home 2-3 days per week were generally much less likely to leave the firm for another employer. By helping them to achieve a healthier work-life balance, we were also enabling employees to be more productive and motivating them to stay. This was a true win-win for everyone involved. This is one reason why, as more firms adopt more flexible work practices, I expect that firms that fail to change with the times will get left behind. However, before a firm jumps to allow staff remote working, there are some very important considerations to keep in mind for making those programs successful. Key considerations and best practices in making remote working successful Every firm is different, and remote working practices will vary depending on the firm's culture and location(s). For IP prosecution practices specifically, approaches to remote working will differ depending on how

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