Most of us within the legal profession remember when many law firms permitted attorneys and staff to work from home during the COVID-19 era. For the most part, working from home did not impact law firm operations, and indeed, many law firms realized record profits during the pandemic. In recent years, many law firms have mandated that employees return to offices, perhaps due to old-school notions of collaborations, or perhaps since they don’t want their expensive office spaces to go unused. However, even though managers may think office time is more productive than working from home, in many situations, working from home is far more efficient.
Many people need to commute significant distances to travel to and from work. Sometimes, even though an office is not located far away, it might take considerable time to commute to and from the workplace. When I was working as an associate at several law firms, I always worked within 10 miles of the office, but it usually took an hour or more to commute each way. When someone works from home, their “commute” is as easy as transitioning from their bed to a couch or home office. Accordingly, working from home can free up several hours each day that attorneys can use on client work or personal tasks.
Moreover, when people work in an office, significant time is often spent socializing around the workplace. This is usually a good thing, since socializing with co-workers is a great way to increase team cohesion and promote the culture of an office. However, socializing with can also take time away from being productive.
I worked at several law firms in my career in which people spent an hour or more a day chatting with people around the office. It is very difficult for managers to cut down on such unproductive behavior since they have tasks of their own, and it can be unclear which conversations are work-related and which are not. When someone works from home, they generally do not devote too much time for socializing, since they are not in the same physical space as co-workers, thus freeing up time which can be used on other, more useful tasks.
Another inefficient part of working in an office is the wasted time needed to grab lunch and eat it back at an office. Some people bring their lunches to work, which is a great way to save money and can lead to more productivity in an office, however, I never brought my lunch, even when I was living on a shoestring budget to pay off my student loans. I loved to break up my office day by going outside, picking up lunch, and eating with my co-workers.
This entire process usually “ate” up about an hour of my workday. First, I would need to gather my co-workers to make an outing to pick up lunch, and then we would need to travel to and from the place where we wanted to grab lunch. Usually, the popular lunch places were packed with other professionals looking to grab lunch in the middle of the day. Then, we would typically eat lunch back at the office and sit around talking after we had finished our food. While working from home, people usually have easy access to food in their own refrigerators and do not need to spend too much time procuring something to eat.
For many reasons, attorneys should be permitted to work from home, since this arrangement allows lawyers to better manage their personal and work affairs. However, managers should also keep in mind that working from home often allows attorneys to devote more time to billing hours.
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothman.law.
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