P2P

11 I L T A N E T . O R G T hree years ago, with its ramifications still reverberating, the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses of all kinds and their employees to make major (and in many cases, abrupt) changes to the ways they work. Legal departments and firms have had to make these same changes. What is now coming to light is that many employees want to maintain the flexibility of working remotely, at least some of the time. Adaptation for enhanced productivity, efficiency and employee satisfaction Management everywhere has had to adapt accordingly. While some larger businesses are now trying to enforce a back-to-the-office mandate, other leaders, who recognize that remote work has offered their employees major lifestyle and productivity advantages, have opted to maintain a hybrid work environment that combines in- office and at-home work. That's in line with the findings from Accenture's Future of Work Study 2021, which surveyed about 10,000 hybrid workers – and 83 percent responded that they preferred a hybrid work model to work remotely at least 25 percent of the time. Leveraging remote work has proved to cut travel time, improve employee satisfaction and retention, enhance communication with clients and reduce operational costs while maintaining and even increasing the productivity of legal staff. According to a February 2023 article in Law Journal Press, most law firms also posted record profits during the two-year span of work-from-home. It's likely your legal department or firm is no different. In fact, a hybrid work model now looks like the key to success. In an ABA report, 87 percent of attorneys said their workplaces allowed remote work, and younger attorneys and women in particular found the advantages of working from home helpful in balancing their professional and family responsibilities. Among younger attorneys, 44 percent reported that they would actually leave their current jobs for others that offered greater WFH flexibility. A hybrid work model has become key to recruiting and retaining valuable employees. Creating a hybrid working environment necessitated major technologic and process adjustments so that everyone could continue communicating and collaborating effectively. But in the rush to keep working during lockdowns, those technology changes may not have resulted in an optimal work environment. In particular, the administration of your department or firm, and maintaining the security of your work and clients' information, may not fully meet your needs or comply with advanced safety measures that protect sensitive data and comply with regulations. Now is a good time to review both your work processes and the security measures that are a must in today's hybrid workplace. Critical elements of a successful hybrid solution for legal teams Ensuring the best hybrid work model requires increasing investment in digital technologies, including legal- specific software, and establishing a firm-wide culture of innovation to make sure everyone can communicate and collaborate together, especially when employees work remotely – whether from home, during client conferences or from the courtroom. These technologies include cloud computing and storage, workflow and document management systems, e-signatures, smart contracts, case and practice management systems, plus video conferencing software, allowing remote teams to streamline their workflows, boost their efficiency and respond to their clients more quickly – all of which results in better client experiences.

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