Peer to Peer Magazine

PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 64 ASK THE EXPERT years your support team has assisted remote workers at home and during non- business hours. You could also argue that attorneys already support clients remotely. Whether an attorney is in the office, at home or on the road, it's transparent to most clients. This type of information inspires confidence and makes it more likely that management will support the decision for a remote workforce. What does the ideal work environment of the future look like? Paul: The ideal environment is one in which everyone can stay connected for collaboration with immediate presence ability (i.e., you can videoconference anyone working remotely). That can take planning and investment and directly ties to your firm's vision of what a perfect remote workforce is and what it should evolve into over the next few years. At my firm, we're finding that more and more people don't need a physical office to work, but every firm will be at a different point on their evolution toward supporting a truly mobile workforce. Sandy: Until technology and labor laws catch up, everyone working from home is still a long way off for most law firms. Allowing individuals to work remotely while others work in the office and maintaining office space to accommodate a majority of staff is more of a reality. We are already seeing office spaces being redesigned to eliminate the number and size of offices and increase the number and types of collaboration areas, which no longer include traditional conference rooms. Andy: When you consider mobility, you need to be able to perform your job at different times and in various places. I have no problem giving up an office and just having an area I can use while I'm visiting and while I'm meeting with my team, so high-quality conference centers are important to have. Teams should be able to grab a room that has teleconference and videoconference capabilities and other collaboration tools so you get the sense that work permeates wherever you are. What else needs to change for law firms to create a better-enabled remote workforce? Andy: Culture. There are people vehemently opposed to moving toward a remote workforce, which might be generational. Many Baby Boomers believe you need to be in the office and that the ability to have in-person facetime is the only way to work. But it is possible to successfully telecommute and still maintain an organization's culture. I think we'll see this mindset shift as Millennials come into leadership. Sandy: Firms need to commit to going paperless and having electronic information stored in one location. Tools must be portable so you can carry them with you. Once this is accomplished, information can be accessed and processed anywhere. Remote access needs to be secure and easy to use; we need to provide the right tools so employees do not circumvent systems or procedures to do their work. Business and personal information must be segregated, and modifications to tools or configurations should not be allowed. Paul: The concept of "my office" or "our office" needs to change because that currently influences technology decisions. That different outlook will allow you to develop a platform that can meet the remote capability requirements needed for whatever direction your firm takes. How do you maintain the same level of productivity and collaboration with a remote workforce as compared to when everyone works in the office? Sandy: I think you need to limit remote access to individuals who are well-suited to working with limited supervision. This option might not include everyone. Effective deployment and use of collaboration technologies should be implemented to ensure everyone continues to work as a team even though they do not physically work side by side. These technologies include videoconferencing applications, screen-sharing and remote presentation capabilities, online chatting with presence, social networking applications with threaded discussions and gamification to promote social interaction, team collaboration workspaces, shared file repositories, group calendars and event scheduling tools, and project management tools. Best practices include advertising open blocks of time when team members are available, holding regular meetings or collaborative activities to drive employee and team engagement, and planning occasional in-person meetings when possible. The ideal environment is one in which everyone can stay connected for collaboration with immediate presence ability (i.e., you can videoconference anyone working remotely).

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