Our recent survey shows 42% of respondents confirm their firms have mandated a certain number of work from home days however 36% want more flexibility in their hybrid working procedures. Law firms simply allocating a few work from home days a week is not enough and need defined hybrid working practices in place to support employees. With concerns over task visibility and the effectiveness of a “one size fits all approach” in a hybrid working environment, are these new working arrangements supporting your business needs?
The value of hybrid working
After two years spent working remotely people have been reminded of the value of having better working life balance and hybrid working has had a positive impact to the lives of many in the legal industry. But the transition is still a work in progress with many firms in uncharted territory. Implementing an effective hybrid working model needs to have a clear structure in place so that employees of different generations feel valued and supported by remote working tools that ensures that lawyers continue to have the high level of support they need regardless of their location.
In our recent Legal Workflow Management survey, we found that 71% of firms have adopted a hybrid working model and that 73% of support staff are working one to two days a week from home.
With larger numbers of support staff working remotely, do firms have the visibility to oversee the delegation of work and overall utilisation effectively?
When talking with our clients in APAC (Asia-Pacific), we hear a common theme. Hybrid working is being adopted for all staff and their team are embracing it. Although, this new working model is raising many challenges.
One concern is maintaining an even distribution of work between support staff. Having tasks delegated equitably reduces the burden on lawyers to undertake administrative tasks as well as ensuring they have access to the right level of support, expertise, and experience. To ensure fair task delegation, it’s important for management teams to understand how work allocation is being managed, tracked and reported in a hybrid working model.
With 52% of firms still manually delegating tasks to support staff, even those working remotely, firms are facing significant challenges ahead if they are to create a truly effective hybrid working model that supports their teams while still meeting business needs in a competitive industry.
Effective hybrid working models needs Workflow Management
An effective hybrid working model needs a strong foundation of structured workflow processes that ensure work is allocated quickly and easily to the right resource at the right time within the business, removing any uncertainty for lawyers on where their tasks are being delegated.
Using advanced Workflow Management technology to provide better work allocation and visibility of the volume and complexity of work will undoubtedly support lawyers in ensuring their work undertaken efficiently, while facilitating employees’ desires for a better work life balance ensuring employees aren’t being over worked. Change is on the agenda and over half of APAC firms (53%) are planning to implement workflow technology over the next 24 months.
Lateral hires amongst law firms are increasing and firms must be aware of the impact on morale and retention for support staff when work is not being allocated fairly among associates. Can firms afford for work to be delegated to the same set of associates rather than following a holistic approach that ensures the right skills and expertise are deployed on every matter?
Hybrid working is here to stay, and must be fully embraced
Despite these challenges, hybrid working is a welcome procedure for firms providing the perfect opportunity to implement much needed changes to improve their current outdated systems and processes. As hybrid working becomes more standardised, legal support technology such as BigHand Workflow Management will provide firms with the structure and visibility they need to improve and manage their hybrid working models which provide support for their team’s day to day working lives and, ultimately, their clients’ experience and expectations.
As our research confirms, hybrid working is here to stay, but without legal Workflow Management technology, is your hybrid working model really supporting your business needs?
For more information about how BigHand is supporting firms with their hybrid working models check out our recent webinar Find the Opportunity in Hybrid Working or download a copy of the latest Legal Workflow Management Report.
