New York Lawyer
September 1, 2005

Q:
I work for a corporate law department. I want to ask the general counsel if I can work from home one day a week. What is the best way to propose this?

Submit Your Question

Find More Answers

A:

Carefully. Very, very carefully. But if you think about it, and prepare and plan intelligently, it can be done. I consulted with an expert in this area, Cynthia Calvert, who is a D.C.-area attorney and is co-director of the Project for Attorney Retention. PAR is a fantastic initiative aimed at understanding balanced hours issues in both the law firm and inhouse contexts, and recommending practical approaches to advance balanced hours programs.

Suss out the environment. What history is there of people doing this? Have other people gone part time, or done any sort of non-traditional work arrangements? If so, it will be easier. If you�re the trailblazer, you�ll have to prepare for more resistance. "Corporate law departments vary widely in culture," says Calvert. "In some, variable hours and telecommuting are the norm for everyone, while in others, strict schedules rule. Where your department's culture falls on the spectrum will determine how you approach your scheduling negotiations." Sounds like your department probably is fairly inflexible in terms of schedules.

Figure out the benefits for management. Calvert points out, "As with any negotiation, consider the proposition from the other side's point of view. In this situation, that means figuring out `what's in it� for you employer and also anticipating objections. What your employer gains is retaining a good, productive attorney who may be made even more productive if, for example, long commuting time is turned into productive work time in a home office or fewer distractions allow more work to get done. One possible benefit also is the opportunity to begin to align the culture of the law department with the culture of the company as a whole, if the company places an emphasis on flexible work schedules."

Be prepared for management concerns. People are concerned that folks working at home are watching HGTV instead of grinding out emails. Really -- that�s a major concern. So you�ll have to figure out a way to allay skepticism about whether you can be productive at home.

Additionally, as Calvert notes, "Your employer's objections are likely to be that your in-house clients need ready access to you and that if you are allowed to telecommute one day a week, then everyone will want to do it."

Communicate, communicate, communicate. On your day at home, assuming you�ve been able to commence the new plan, always check in, call in, send in memos, do all you can to establish your presence. After a while, people will realize that someone working from home is not a heckuva lot different than the people in their office, with whom they communicate by, well, emailing and phoning, much of the time. Adds Calvert: "Assure your boss that you will be at your home desk, available for telephone calls and email, and that you will actively reach out to your clients to let them know that it is okay to call you. A couple of tips if you do start working from home: invest in call forwarding and/or mobile email so you can be reachable even if not at your desk; call clients, your supervisor, and your co-workers before they call you so your availability is clear; and respond to emails promptly."

Look like a busy bee. "The productivity issue is also easily addressed," according to Calvert. "Tell your supervisor what types of work you will get done, how it will be accomplished from home, and then follow through. Email and fax memos and other documents from home so your productivity is evident. Tell your supervisor how glad you were to have uninterrupted time at home to finish a project that otherwise wouldn't have been completed for another week." In other words, you need to do some "advertising" to make sure that people understand how you are able to get your job done when on the homefront.

Everyone doesn�t want to do it. In response to the floodgates argument, point out that experience shows that lots of people don�t like telecommuting. As Calvert says, "This issue is a bit harder to address because the most honest response is `so what?� The office would probably be a lot more productive and the attorneys a lot happier if everyone telecommuted one day a week. But that is not what your employer wants to hear. You may want to point out that not everyone is comfortable working from home, as evidenced by the fact that other companies that allow telecommuting have not been overwhelmed with requests to telecommute, or that other attorneys are already productive outside of the office when they are traveling for business."

Downplay your personal issues. Everybody usually has some reason for wanting to change their work situation. Ideally, the reason for such a request would be considered immaterial, but in most legal environments you will probably need to give some sort of rationale. Advises Calvert: "You probably want to aim for middle ground: don't give your employer a long sob story about how stressed you are or how you need to save money on childcare (both of which suggest that you would not be productive at home anyway), but rather say something briefly about your reason (such as, by saving commuting time, you'll be able to fit in taking a course or can become more effective through having time to accomplish personal errands outside the office) and then shift the conversation to how the arrangement will benefit the department." In other words, continue to emphasize business concerns even when talking about personal issues.

Finally, have faith and be persistent. This is a worthy goal. You can be a great attorney even if you are not following the traditional in-the-office model.

Sincerely,
Holly English
Principal Consultant, Values at Work