We’ve just had the reports of Slaughter and May’s tough new policy to get associates back into the office and now a report from legal blog RollonFriday indicates that fellow Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance is adopting a similar stance.
A Clifford Chance spokesperson spoke with RollonFriday on the policy, saying:
“To help our managers better understand and support their team’s adherence to our hybrid working policy, from 1st February 2024, the firm will start to review data of individual attendance in London and Newcastle.”
The spokeswoman also confirmed that CC is sticking with its flexible working policy: “We regularly review our approach to hybrid working and continue to believe that our current UK policy in of working from the office at least 50% over a two week period is right for our business, our clients and people.”
“We know from our own experience and employee feedback that when consistently applied, our hybrid working policy provides our people a greater opportunity to learn, develop and collaborate with colleagues and clients thereby supporting our growth ambitions and enhancing the culture of the firm.”
RollonFriday
Like many firms, Clifford Chance used a hybrid policy for staff, requiring staff to be in the office half their time, somewhat more lenient than many of the major US law firms that required three days’ a week attendance – now up to four days for many.
Further, the attendance policy is also bonus-dependent, providing an added incentive for staff to attend the office.
As we reported in the case of Slaughter and May a significant number of young professionals need a financial incentive to ditch their home setups for the traditional office environment as flexible work trends remain popular in many workplaces.
According to a report in Law.com, current data is shows that office occupancy is averaging 50 percent with midweek peaks of 65 percent.
Another observer noted that hybrid working is no longer the outlier, but rather it is a commonly accepted way of working and law firms have to get with the program.
Let us know your thoughts on hybrid working for law firms and what firms are doing.
