How Law Firms Can Support Staff While Working Remotely

As circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak continue to change, many of us have taken our work home with us. With the advent of online case management solutions like CASEpeer, we have empowered thousands of law firm staff to work from anywhere.

But while helpful tools are out there, technology alone isn’t a silver bullet for fixing a dysfunctional office culture. Creating a supportive and positive office culture dedicated to supporting your staff remotely is just as vital.

Honor when employees are “off the clock”

Especially with a reduction in commutes to the office, a common pitfall with remote work is the blurring of the line between “work” and “home.” While this blurring is inevitable to an extent, fostering a level of respect for your employees’ boundaries will show that you are cognizant of their personal lives amidst current events. Despite how easy it is to walk to their computers at 9 pm, this means respecting their schedules when they are virtually “out of the office.” 

Offer a flexible work schedule

While we’ve highlighted the importance of sticking to your same schedule in a previous blog, this should be balanced with supporting the other time demands of your staff. Many parents are home with their children, and owners are home with their pets. Grocery store shelves are emptying at a moment’s notice.

As the border between work and home disappears, understanding the daily realities your staff faces and allowing them flexibility will make them feel supported and as a result help them produce better quality work. 

Foster non-work conversations

With the lack of water coolers to congregate around, we also recommend intentionally creating opportunities to catch up with your employees’ lives. Whether it’s introducing children and pets on Zoom or sharing the newest recipes you’ve wanted to try, engaging in intentional, non-work conversations will preserve a feeling of normalcy and reinforce the fact that we are all in this together. 

Create a culture of trust

Trusting the employees at your law firm to perform excellent work is key under normal circumstances, so one can only imagine its importance as we transition to working from home. Whether implicit or explicit, make it known that you trust your employees’ ability, knowledge, and experience in producing high-quality work.

They will not only appreciate the positive affirmations, but it will translate in their efficiently completing the tasks that keep your firm running. 

For CASEpeer users, if productivity is a roadblock in your firm, no need to worry. We have created powerful reports for administrators to track the productivity of their staff so mutual decisions can be made on how to best allocate work in your law firm.

To learn more about how CASEpeer can help empower law firms to effectively work remotely, book a demo with us now. We are here to help!