Almost two-thirds hope for hybrid-working once pandemic is over, research reveals
Lawyers will put in the equivalent of an extra 20 days of work a year while working from home amidst the coronavirus pandemic, as nearly two-thirds hope for a hybrid workplace in the future.
Analysis by tech company Atlas Cloud shows that in the time spent not commuting to the office, legal workers are saving an average of 85 minutes per day. They say they split this time between work and play by spending an average of 36 minutes extra on work per day and 49 minutes on leisure.
The number crunchers say that given the average month comprises 21 working days, legal businesses gain on average almost an entire month’s worth of additional work per each employee that works from home between the first lockdown in March 2020, and March 2021.
However, while they may be putting in longer shifts, they are also benefitting from additional downtime too. The data shows legal employees gain the equivalent of 27 extra holidays in free time — almost doubling the year’s annual leave allowance.
Half of respondents in the legal sector (50%) said they had used their additional leisure time to spend more time with family, with 43% saying they had used it to catch up on sleep, and 40% using it to do more exercise.
The survey of 188 legal workers also found that more than eight in ten (85%) want to work from home at least one day a week after the pandemic.
More than three-quarters (78%) want a return to the office in some form, although only 15% want to work from the office full-time. Less than a quarter (22%) say they want to work from home full-time.
Almost two-thirds (63%) say they are hoping for hybrid-working — a blend of office and remote work — when safe to do so.
Pete Watson, CEO of Atlas Cloud, said: “Working from home can be a win-win for employers and employees as the lack of commuting gives people more time to spend working and more leisure time. This research clearly demonstrates that the majority of people want to return to the office in some capacity after coronavirus, but more often than not this is to pursue a hybrid-working model where they can work more flexibly.”
He continued:
“One of the few bright spots of the coronavirus is that it has shown we can build a better way of working which will help to create better businesses, a better society and ultimately better lives for ourselves, our colleagues and our families. We now have a golden opportunity to embrace flexible and agile hybrid-working to create a better work-life balance for millions of people.”
