I respectfully thinks this misses a market dynamic. One group that incredibly benefits from WFH flexibility are parents of school-aged kids. Although they've hated schools closing they've loved the lessened need for child care outside of school and other flexibility. If there's an option, they'll flee places that go back to 5 days a week office. And there are options! Lots of employers were already starting to offer remote positions before the pandemic. Those won't go away, and will only grow. BigLaw, gov offices, etc., will all be competing against them for a not-insubstantial group of employees. They can try to go back to all office, all the time, but like the Big Three clinging onto outdated manufacturing, labor policies, and warrantee practices in the '70s, it's only a matter of time.
I agree with you, Anthony. There will definitely be places willing to offer employees flexibility if Biglaw firms are not. Two of my final projects as a recruiter were for in-house employers who had gone totally remote. So I disagree with this reader’s take; I think it will be hard for firms to force the five-day, in-office workweek upon unwilling associates.
Other than anecdotally it seems difficult to get information. UBS for one seems to have decided that five days in office will NOT be their norm. Sizeable enterprises are apparently subletting millions of square feet of space; if true, this is at a minimum is a decision that cannot be reversed for some years. I understand that Jamie Dimon would prefer to keep all noses to the grindstone--but then his generation will soon be irrelevant.
Many of us ARE working seven days a week right now, and this period has been hard on us because all we do is work. We don’t even have a commute to break it up. We wake up, work the whole day, go to bed, and repeat the next day. And we haven’t had anything else to do but work (until recently) — no dining out, theatre, movies, travel. Going back to the office won’t be all bad (but I would like the flexibility to not go every day).
Is it necessary to assume there will be a single "market norm" in regards to WFH policies going forward? Some places won't offer much flexibility, others will (and they'll be sure to highlight this on their website as one of their "benefits"). I wonder if there will even be noticeable intra-firm variance, i.e., partners who have disliked the WFH experience for a variety of reasons (less tech-savvy, super extraverted, or simply eager to go back to the typical firm experience) require that the associates on their cases be in office, while other partners might think "meh, so long as you are doing high-quality work, hitting your billables, and coming into the office often enough such that I know who you are/we have a relationship, I don't mind you working home some of the time."
As a partner, I would be fine with letting us make our own decisions on WFH. But at least at my firm, I suspect that leadership will have opinions that it will want us to follow. We also probably won't be able to tell the associates we work with that we want them to work from the office or are fine with working from home. There will be a policy from on high.
I respectfully thinks this misses a market dynamic. One group that incredibly benefits from WFH flexibility are parents of school-aged kids. Although they've hated schools closing they've loved the lessened need for child care outside of school and other flexibility. If there's an option, they'll flee places that go back to 5 days a week office. And there are options! Lots of employers were already starting to offer remote positions before the pandemic. Those won't go away, and will only grow. BigLaw, gov offices, etc., will all be competing against them for a not-insubstantial group of employees. They can try to go back to all office, all the time, but like the Big Three clinging onto outdated manufacturing, labor policies, and warrantee practices in the '70s, it's only a matter of time.
I agree with you, Anthony. There will definitely be places willing to offer employees flexibility if Biglaw firms are not. Two of my final projects as a recruiter were for in-house employers who had gone totally remote. So I disagree with this reader’s take; I think it will be hard for firms to force the five-day, in-office workweek upon unwilling associates.
Other than anecdotally it seems difficult to get information. UBS for one seems to have decided that five days in office will NOT be their norm. Sizeable enterprises are apparently subletting millions of square feet of space; if true, this is at a minimum is a decision that cannot be reversed for some years. I understand that Jamie Dimon would prefer to keep all noses to the grindstone--but then his generation will soon be irrelevant.
Five-day in-office workweek, David? Perhaps some associates will consider that a reprieve from the customary seven days...
Many of us ARE working seven days a week right now, and this period has been hard on us because all we do is work. We don’t even have a commute to break it up. We wake up, work the whole day, go to bed, and repeat the next day. And we haven’t had anything else to do but work (until recently) — no dining out, theatre, movies, travel. Going back to the office won’t be all bad (but I would like the flexibility to not go every day).
Is it necessary to assume there will be a single "market norm" in regards to WFH policies going forward? Some places won't offer much flexibility, others will (and they'll be sure to highlight this on their website as one of their "benefits"). I wonder if there will even be noticeable intra-firm variance, i.e., partners who have disliked the WFH experience for a variety of reasons (less tech-savvy, super extraverted, or simply eager to go back to the typical firm experience) require that the associates on their cases be in office, while other partners might think "meh, so long as you are doing high-quality work, hitting your billables, and coming into the office often enough such that I know who you are/we have a relationship, I don't mind you working home some of the time."
As a partner, I would be fine with letting us make our own decisions on WFH. But at least at my firm, I suspect that leadership will have opinions that it will want us to follow. We also probably won't be able to tell the associates we work with that we want them to work from the office or are fine with working from home. There will be a policy from on high.