Peer to Peer Magazine

PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 10 BEST PRACTICES requests to do so. We are nowhere near pre-recession staffing levels, and we often have just one or two employees dedicated to a function. When nearing critical project deadlines, it can be nerve-wracking to receive an email that an employee's child is sick. It's refreshing that now an employee can take a sick child to the doctor and work from home the remainder of the day instead of use PTO. And things like inclement weather can force an office to close (as ours did this winter), but you can keep the majority of your IT staff online, working as usual and completely self- motivated to do so. Oddly enough, regardless of current policies, many CIOs I've spoken to are re- evaluating their practices with an eye to the future. In this "new normal" for law firms, where firm management is continuously looking to reduce expenses, occupancy costs remain one of the highest operating expenses. As many professional services organizations look to either lease new space or contract existing space, the question of whether 100 percent of staff need to be present 100 percent of the time is being asked by CIOs and firm leadership. One CIO friend looking to lease new space says his company "will be pushing more staff that are taking up space out into the field." Hoteling only viable option when a trusted employee is relocating, perhaps due to his or her partner's employment. Often, such instances are win-win situations since the firm does not lose a valuable resource and the trusted employee often feels an increased sense of loyalty to the organization for making the accommodations. In speaking with other CIOs about their practices and how frequently employees could work remotely, responses ranged from "up to 60 percent per week" to "very limited" on a case-by-case basis. Many legal IT departments offer the option as a perk for managers or senior-level employees; some allow non-management staff to work from home at the manager's discretion. For the majority of IT organizations though, giving non-management employees the option to work virtually is a rare event. Practically speaking, even if you have no employees formally utilizing a telecommuting program, firms can benefit from ad hoc Within the IT department at Ballard Spahr LLP, this announcement generated a lot of buzz. Staff wondered, is this a sign of things to come, if such a seemingly progressive company could eliminate its virtual workforce with no notice? Sure enough, a week later another large company, Best Buy, followed suit. In Mayer's defense, she countered criticism stating, "This was wrongly perceived as an industry narrative." She affirmed, "This is about what is right for Yahoo, right now." [italics mine] Whether or not Yahoo's news had you thinking twice about your firm's virtual workforce and associated policies, most CIOs readily agree that telecommuting frequently arises during job/salary negotiations, during exit interviews with disgruntled employees and when circumstances temporarily or permanently change for the employees whom we manage. For some IT departments such as mine, telecommuting might be the Managing a Virtual Workforce About the Author Lisa Mayo is a lifelong adaptive learner and an ITIL Foundations-certified professional with extensive experience in law firm technology management, including IT service management, project management, solutions development life cycle, application development and management, business analysis, database management and process improvement. Her specialties include data management, data integrations, process reengineering, building efficiencies and strategic planning. Lisa has been with Ballard Spahr, LLP for the past 24 years and in a director-level role for the past 15. Contact her at mayo@ballardspahr.com. In a policy revocation heard around the world in March of 2013, newly appointed Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced an end to the organization's work-from-home policy. Most surprising to many was that these new rules applied to those who worked from home full time, as well as those with pre-existing arrangements to work from home one or two days per week. The question of whether 100 percent of staff need to be present 100 percent of the time is being asked by CIOs and firm leadership.

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