Extra work days are not something most lawyers envision as a positive byproduct of the pandemic. But with working from home, remote lawyers avoiding commutes, trips and other time-consuming business activities now have additional time to use and that is increasing both work, leisure and exercise time. With flexible work arrangements likely to remain or even increase once the pandemic is behind us as companies realize cost-savings, efficiencies and the ability to tap talent across the country, lawyers must take care to maintain balance and allocate their extra time accordingly. As many have found, working from home has actually increased their work day and the “always on” mentality prevalent in the legal profession has and will continue to be a significant stressor affecting attorney wellbeing. If lawyers are able to convert a larger portion of this additional time into things other than extra work days, we may actually see an improvement in the health of the profession generally. The question remains as to productivity – and some studies are now showing that remote workers are 10-20% less productive than in-office workers. If this trend continues, expect return-to-office pressure to rise.
“Lawyers will put in the equivalent of an extra 20 days of work a year while working from home….two-thirds hope for a hybrid workplace in the future. Analysis by tech company Atlas Cloud shows that in the time spent not commuting to the office, legal workers are saving an average of 85 minutes per day. They say they split this time between work and play by spending an average of 36 minutes extra on work per day and 49 minutes on leisure.”
Read: Lawyers put in 20 extra work days when working from home at Legal Cheek