Ellie Dudley | Source: The Australian, Wednesday, Sept 4, 2024

Australian law firms firmly oppose mandatory full-time office policies – despite parts of the public sector pushing for just that – with many firms saying they “trust” their employees to manage work responsibly.

Firms quizzed as part of The Australian’s Legal Partnerships survey said they did not track office attendance, but rather allowed workers to manage the split between office and home time.

“We don’t track how many people work from the office full-time because we don’t feel we need to. But on any given day, we estimate that more than 80 per cent of our people will be working in the office,” Arnold Bloch Leibler managing partner Henry Lanzer said.

“We have never considered it necessary to have a policy on working from home. Our expectation, and the reality, has always been that people choose to work from the office to work collaboratively with colleagues and meet, indeed exceed, our clients’ ­requirements.

“Our lawyers have always been afforded flexibility and we trust them to take responsibility for the way they work. We’re not the kind of firm to set proscriptive policies around things like this.”

The comments follow a heated debate about work-from-home provisions in the government sector, after NSW Premier Chris Minns announced public servants would be required to return to the office full-time.

Meanwhile, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has been adamant that there will be no changes to the flexible working arrangements governing public servants in her state because “this is an outcome that keeps women and men connected to their workforce, connected to their families and connected to their communities”.

Lander & Rogers chief executive partner Genevieve Collins said the firm did not mandate office days for its employees, and would continue to maintain a “100 per cent hybrid and flexible working policy”.

Lawyers at Baker McKenzie are not tracked on their attendance, but national managing partner Anne-Marie Allgrove said graduates and junior lawyers were in the office most days “as they build relationships and benefit from learning opportunities in person”.

She said there was an expectation for non-partners to be in the office 60 per cent of the time, and partners were required to be in 80 per cent of the time.

“Our hybrid arrangements recognise the importance of how the 60 per cent is achieved. It can be done in a variety of ways. We encourage employees to work with their teams and supervisors on how time spent in the office is best comprised each week, being mindful of the work requirements and needs of the team,” she said.

“Fundamentally, we are a people business. We do our best work and realise our full potential when we spend more time together but we also recognise the need for and benefits of flexibility.”

Ms Allgrove said there was “no plan” to require people to be in the office full-time, but there was “no doubt that time in the office together is key to ensuring the energy and connectivity needed for the success of the business”.

MinterEllison chief executive Virginia Briggs said one of the main priorities for the firm was to “support sustainable ways of working” but said workers were encouraged to be in the office when they could.

“Encouraging our people to be flexible in how, when and where they work are important elements of our cultural aspirations,” she said. “We know that having a combination of being physically present in the office and working from home enables us to create sustainable value for our clients and our people. Our policy encourages our people to be with our teams and clients, more often than not. We are comfortable that this is the right fit for MinterEllison right now.”

Maddocks estimates 20-25 per cent of employees have returned to the office full-time, with full-time employees expected to be in the office at least three days a week and part-time employees at least half the time.

“There is not a one size fits all approach to hybrid work and flexibility – our approach has been to balance a number of factors such as firm needs, client needs and the individual’s needs,” Maddocks CEO David Newman said.

“We have found that clear communication about our expectations since our return to the office in 2022 and accommodating individuals’ flexibility needs has helped create an environment where people want to return.”

 

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