This article looks to examine the results of our 2020 Legal Industry COVID-19 Survey. Our insights are part of a national survey conducted in collaboration with two other legal recruitment firms based in NSW and Victoria. We had 424 respondents at a national level.
We asked a range of questions about working from home, employee satisfaction, the future of working arrangements and more. The results of this survey can inform us how employers have handled COVID-19 and how people are feeling about the future of their work.
We surveyed the Queensland legal industry in August 2020. Most of those were found to be working in law firms with less than 100 employees (32.58%). Just over 20% came from firms with more than 300 staff and the fewest (3.3%) were working in-house within the Not-for-Profit sector. The remaining respondents were those working in government, corporate and mid-sized firms. There was a relatively even split across practice areas.
Workload
We asked people how COVID-19 had affected their workflow. There was an equal proportion of people who said they were busier to those who stated a reduction in workload. Those who had experienced a reduction in workflow were mainly in corporate and commercial litigation followed by property. It is likely that the government’s six-month suspension of insolvency laws in March, (now extended to December) may have played a part in the decrease in the flow of litigation.
Hours Worked and Impact on Pay
While most people said that neither their hours nor their pay had changed because of COVID-19, 20% were working longer hours and 25% were either stood down, made redundant or had their working hours reduced by at least 1 or 2 days per week and experienced a drop in pay.
Working from Home
We surveyed people in August after the height of restrictions in Queensland during March and April. By August, 37.5% of people were working full-time in the office, followed by a mix of work from home and in the office (34.09%) with the fewest respondents working only from home (28%). For those who have long advocated the benefits of working flexibly and remotely, COVID-19 has most certainly sparked a welcomed ‘working from home’ revolution. In fact, it has forced some of the most conservative of employers to think differently about the way their workplaces can look and operate.
The Impact on Productivity
90% of people said they were as productive if not more productive working from home.
Without the usual distractions of passing foot traffic, and the “do you have a second….” and the resulting fire-side chats, those surveyed were just as productive, if not more. What we won’t know however, is whether higher levels of productivity led to strong fee recovery and profitability.
Long-held views of presenteeism in the office being the only means of a productive workplace are definitely being challenged.
Lifestyle Factors
We asked people about the effects of working from home on lifestyle factors including exercise, sleep quality, mental health, eating habits, alcohol intake and relationships.
Interestingly, lifestyle factors due to WFH have largely stayed the same for people and in fact improved in the areas of exercise and mental health. The overwhelming majority of people who felt their mental health and exercise had improved are working a mix of from home and in the office.
Mental health was the most disproportionately effected of all the lifestyle factors.
We saw a positive improvement in mental health due to WFH. Most people who said their mental health had improved also saw improvements or continuity in the other lifestyle factors.
However, mental health was the most negatively affected of all lifestyle factors. 20% of people felt their mental health worsened. All but one of the respondents who said their mental health had worsened, were either impartial or satisfied with how their employer has handled COVID-19.
People’s ability to reinvest their time due to working from home has correlated with an improvement in lifestyle factors. In a 2019 survey, the average daily commuting time for Brisbane was 67 minutes.[1] It would seem that people are reinvesting the time that would otherwise have been spent on a commute.
We saw an improvement in exercise and consistent eating and sleeping routines. Interestingly, 72.9% of people said their alcohol intake was the same.
Yet another silver lining of working from home is the chance to spend more time with family and loved ones. Not surprisingly relationships had the greatest positive result out of all the lifestyle factors.
All lifestyle factors were overwhelmingly positive, and most people were not any worse off because of working from home.
How Businesses Have Handled COVID-19
Most people felt their employer has done an awesome job handling COVID-19 with a minority of people not satisfied (12.36%).
From our own experience in speaking with job seekers, employers are being judged on how they are handling COVID-19. The way in which employers manage and navigate these ‘challenging times’ will be long remembered whether positive or negative. Taking the ‘if they don’t like it, they can leave’ approach speaks volumes about the underlying philosophies of a firm. Poor management practices including those of ‘command and control’ will come back to haunt those who have relied on this approach, particularly when they come to bolster their teams once again.
Those who were unsatisfied with how their employer has handled COVID-19 within their organisation pointed to communication, lack of clarity, and poor management. Most of these people said they will consider looking for a new position.
Culture has stayed the same with 25% seeing an improvement and 22% feeling it has worsened.
There has been no change in communication for most people. 29% saw an improvement in communication. Less than 10% found that communication has been less effective.
People have been finding new ways to connect and continue that critical interaction amongst colleagues. Whether businesses are using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Blue Jeans, or Slack; the ease of communication online has enabled different ways work relationships are established and maintained. The elimination of travel time to and from meetings, may also be a contributor to an improved level of efficiency and productivity as people jump from one meeting to the next.
Expectations around employee accessibility through online communication was flagged. A respondent noted the downside of communication channels creating an expectation of availability outside work hours.
Most people are not concerned about job security. This is a positive result but by a small margin - 55% are not concerned while 44% are. Most people who are concerned about job security also experienced a reduction in workflow.
The Future of Work
Almost 35% of those surveyed stated that their employers have already communicated a ‘full-time’ in the office arrangement, while 44% of people will enjoy a mix of working from home and in the office. At the time of the survey there was just over 20% who were still waiting for their firms to communicate a ‘return to work plan’.
Most returning to the office said they will drive to work. Whether the increase in time spent commuting erodes improvements in lifestyle factors may be tested over time.
The ideal working situation is a hybrid model of working from home and the office. Ideally, people want to be working from home 1-2 days a week.
In recent months, we have seen an increase in the number of job seekers looking to move into workplaces where a hybrid model of working exists and is genuinely supported. It is a trend that we expect to see continue, and one that may become a deciding factor for future talent.
Clichés about ‘adapting the way we work in a technological era’ or chasing ‘work-life balance’ seem to fit nicely into the picture here. Our temperature check on the legal market shows that overall, we have continued to communicate well online, enjoyed a surprising level of productivity while working remotely, spent time with loved ones, and for the most part have been satisfied with how our employer has handled COVID-19. Our ‘new normal’ is most certainly still evolving, but if these early indicators suggest anything, it is that law firms have adapted far quicker than the broader profession may have ever expected.
Now the question on everyone’s mind is, how much of these new adaptations will exist well beyond a post-COVID world?
[1] HILDA -
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australian-city-workers-average-commute-has-blown-out-to-66-minutes-a-day-how-does-yours-compare
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