Working from home is becoming a popular trend. In fact, many Canadian workers would take a 10% pay cut in order to work remotely. Even in the legal industry, many big firms already offer flexible work arrangements. It can result in lower overhead, give you better hiring choices with qualified candidates, and often leads to better employee retention. A study showed that those who work from home reported a 91% better work-life balance. You just need to know how to make remote working work for you and this is where a law firm work from home policy is needed.
How to Plan a Law Firm Work from Home Policy
Set Expectations for All Remote Staff
The first step is to set expectations. It’s the best way to keep team members focused and unified about what is expected when working remotely. Your work from home policy should outline the following:
- Who is eligible to work remotely? The entire team or certain positions?
- Is this a temporary work from home arrangement or permanent?
- Should remote workers keep normal office hours or do they have some flexibility? There are pros to being available at off-hours and it could work better for some clients
- How will team members communicate their availability? Will you have a calendar, or project planning tool that contains everyone’s working hours, scheduled meetings or calls? It needs to be easily accessible to all team members
Whatever expectations you set, make sure your law firm work from home policy allows team members to communicate their availability, response times, and if possible, look into team sharing tools that permit people to communicate their status, whether they’re busy with a client or taking lunch. This will avoid confusion and delay.
Be Clear About Your Preferred Communication Methods
Communication is critical, especially when staff work in different locations. You’ll want to determine what communication methods and tools you’ll use for team and client-attorney meetings. In your work from home policy, you need to clarify:
- What methods will be used for short and quick communications? Will you use an instant messaging application?
- What methods should be used for longer, more complex communications that could get miscommunicated in written messages? Will people jump on a video or phone call?
- What methods are to be used for client communications?
- What communication tools are approved for at-home use? All programs should be vetted beforehand by your IT department, to makes sure they’re secure. If you’re not sure what tools are best, an IT services provider like Com Pro can help you determine the safest technologies for remote working
When it comes to any company communications, remember that security must be a priority. Make sure lawyers, staff and vendors are properly trained on your chosen communication tools and that they know best practices for using them. Don’t forget to also set up secure print workflows, for print communications to the office from virtual/remote locations.
Empower Your Team with the Right Tools to Work Remotely
If team members work remotely only as a temporary measure, then they might not have a dedicated home office. Yet, you can encourage your team to evaluate their work space and ensure that they have the best possible setup to be successful and productive.
In your law firm work from home policy, outline some helpful recommendations, such as:
- Do your team members have a door to their office that can be secured or a barrier that can be used to separate that space from other home occupants?
- Be mindful of appearances. If team members plan to use their home office space for hosting video conferences with clients and/or vendors, is it set up to look professional?
- Will staff use their own personal devices for work, such as laptops, smartphones and tablets? Or will you allow them to take office computers to their homes? If so, document your plan, so that devices can be tracked and returned
- Can team members access files, systems, databases, and other tools that they need to be productive?
Make sure to encourage your team to speak out if they feel they don’t have the necessary tools to work effectively from home. Your job is to support them as best you can and to ensure that they have the means to carry out their day to day tasks.
Set Strong Security Policies for Remote Working
Working from home comes with its own security concerns. Hackers are known to target law firms and many people are not aware of how they infiltrate company systems.
Your law firm work from home policy should always include a section on IT security. Make sure it answers the following questions:
- If personal devices are to be used for work, what security measures must be in place? Strong passwords, data encryption or a secure virtual private network (VPN)?
- Will you allow team members to conduct company business on public Wi-Fi?
- Outline common ways that hackers use to infiltrate IT systems and make sure your policy educates staff on how to spot and prevent threats
- Ensure that your IT Security policy has a clear process for reporting a suspected data breach
Since family members and roommates may be in close proximity to at-home work spaces, you need to clearly define how to keep client communications confidential. An outside assessment from an experienced Managed IT Provider such as Com Pro can help put solutions in place that will contribute to a secure work environment.
Working from Home Doesn’t Have to Cause Concern
With the right work from home policy, you create clarity, cohesion and can still impart a sense of teamwork at your firm, even if your “team” is spread out across different locations. Just be clear about expectations, communications, appropriate work tools, and key cyber security measures, and you will find that your legal team will adjust much better to a remote working style.
Need better solutions for secure remote working? Contact our Com Pro team and tap into our expertise in all things Print and IT!