Navigating the Changing Workplace Landscape Caused by COVID-19

It’s been more than five weeks since the global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus shut down businesses across Pennsylvania, and even longer across the globe, as COVID-19 remains resistant to flattening out. For most law firms, navigating the changing landscape of remote working and lawyering has been a challenge in an industry that has always been resistant to change. But what COVID-19 has shown us is that remote working is not unattainable and, in fact, has proven just how well law firms can operate with a remote staff. Sure, there are many functions that require hands on, in-the-office employees, but for the most part, law firms can operate smoothly with an almost entirely remote workforce. Adapting to this change couldn’t be summed up better than by the fact that for the first time in history, the U.S. Supreme Court has switched to oral argument by telephone. Regardless of whether law firms can resume in-office work in a few weeks or months, here are four areas that law firm management should be paying attention to now and long after we return to our “new normal.”

Optics of the Pay Cut

Let’s start this off by saying it brings no one pleasure to cut or reduce salaries of hard working and dedicated employees. We trust that our valued employees are working as hard at home as they do in the office. As a result, there is no joy in having to take cost-cutting measures such as pay cuts. But, there is an optics angle here that firms of all sizes should be paying attention to. In the past few weeks, many firms have implemented across the board pay cuts that have limited impact on top-earning partners but enormous implications for staff. On the flipside, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that at least one local firm took a different approach. Last week, Ballard Spahr stated that it will not cut the salaries of anyone making less than $75,000, whereas all other employees will be seeing reductions of anywhere from 10% to 25%. Our bottom lines may be impacted by the current circumstances, but the cost-cutting measures of how we treat our employees now say more about us as firms than anything else. The world is watching—and that means our corporate and other institutional clients are watching too. With businesses under heightened scrutiny, it is essential that we act in good faith when responding to the crisis as our clients are paying closer attention than ever before and may be considering your firm’s crisis response when issuing legal work.

Reopening of Office Space