The head of a major South West law firm says companies are likely to move to a “hybrid” model with some staff continuing to work from home even as the economy further unlocks.
Julia Green, partner and head of the Exeter office of national law firm Browne Jacobson, has predicted while some staff will return to offices from September others will remain as remote workers.
“Few will come back 100%,” she said. “If businesses want people to come in they will have to make it an expectation that that’s the case.
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“I don’t think people will come back on their own accord, but I think they will have a hybrid arrangement. That may be the life change this has brought about.”
Browne Jacobson moved all its 50 Exeter-based staff to home working when the pandemic struck and what appeared at first to be a challenge turned out to be a “seamless” transition.
But now companies are considering moving staff back into offices and Ms Green said some staff will want to remain working from home.
Browne Jacobson has only a small team in its Exeter office at present and will be waiting until September to “get a better feel” of staff opinions about where they will work.
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“Some people are still a bit nervous, some do not want to do any travelling,” she said. “A lot of people are thinking that they like working from home. No traffic queues, no spending time travelling. For a lot of staff it was the equivalent of a small pay rise. So it is going to be interesting how we are going to balance that. There is going to be a different culture.”
Ms Green said this could mean firms having a smaller workforce in the office, and therefore needing a smaller office.
“So you need the same size you had previously? Probably not,” she said. But she said businesses such as law firms will remain “people based”, with a need for face-to-face interaction with clients.
“I think clients will come back by degrees,” she said. “People want to see their lawyers. And if you want to be a trusted advisor, and someone to turn to in times of stress or uncertainty, it’s easier if you have built up a relationship. And to see them in their own surroundings, you won’t get that from remote connections.”
It will also be important for junior staff to be in proximity to more experienced workers to “learn by osmosis”, she said. Ms Green said the other change is that workers are no longer tied to a geographical location, and she said: “Many people will be working from home, so they could be working from anywhere, it could be in the North (of England) or even abroad. It is not necessarily integral that people have to be in any particular office.
“And in terms of appointing people, looking at the talent pool, that widens it out quite a lot. So for people like London based lawyers, thinking of coming down to the South West, but being a bit nervous, well it has taken away a lot of that resistance. They can come here and have the lifestyle they want but still be linked to a London office.”
She said firms such as Browne Jacobson have also saved time with staff not having to move between offices. But tech is another issue, with Browne Jacobson finding, for instance, a difference between those that wanted meetings online and in person when it staged forums for school trust chief executives during the pandemic lockdown.
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“Some preferred to do it online, but it was different and not the same as seeing people in person, not as collaborative or innovative,” Ms Green said. “That off-the-cuff comment that ignites something creative, you don’t get that with a virtual meeting.
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Like many companies Browne Jacobson was concerned about the impact of Covid on business going into the pandemic, but, also like many companies, projections of doom were ill founded.
The law firm saw turnover increase by 5% to £85m as it was able to balance its private and public sector work. That included working with the NHS, and on creating two Nightingale hospital projects, the 海角视频 ventilator challenge, and also with schools and insurers. These balanced out areas that struggled, such as corporate and commercial property. Browne Jacobson, which has national clients such as Sport England and JD Sports, has a total of about 1,000 staff split between offices in London, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester and Exeter.