In this piece at Bloomberg Law, Paula Hogéus, leader of the EY Global Labor & Employment Law team, and Nicholas Bruch, leader of the EY Global Tax and Legal Analyst team, cites new data from a pair of EY surveys that suggest many concerns about remote work were premature. “Remote work has gone better than expected for most,” they write. “However, as workplaces reopen, law departments will find that their employees have new expectations about work. They have learned that new, more flexible, ways of working are possible and will be hesitant, or even unwilling, to go back to pre-pandemic normal. This presents challenges and opportunities for law departments.” Managing the challenges puts pressure on law department leaders to adopt new ways of working that balance employees’ desire for flexibility with overall business goals, write the EY leaders, referencing findings from a 2021 EY survey of law departments, developed with the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession. That survey suggests greater use of process management, technology, and new sourcing methods will be key to getting this balance right. Read more here at Bloomberg Law.
