As law firms shape up for economic recovery and growth, many are considering what the future of work will look like.
One thing’s for sure, the move to remote working highlighted how IT is an area that needs continual re-assessment and re-investment to ensure the basics are working right. That includes making sure that the workforce and clients get the best experience possible.
While remote working technologies enabled people to work productively from home, the ‘always on’ digital workplace has generated new workforce challenges. According to the Bellwether 2021 report even though lawyers seem happy at work and job satisfaction high – 80% of the lawyers gave job satisfaction 8/10 and 70% felt looked after during the pandemic - stress levels are still worrying high.
Law firms have had to find ways to support employees who found it difficult to ‘disconnect’ from work or were on the receiving end of digital ‘miscommunication’.
Other unexpected consequences of remote working included work intensification, isolation, burnout, and career stagnancy as people missed out on in-person informal and formal coaching and mentoring opportunities.
As law firms prepare to embed a more sustainable hybrid working environment for the long term, putting people at the very centre of their technology strategy will be a must-have.
Get ready for the next horizon of innovation
The good news is that by building on technologies that are already in place, law firms can engineer and fine-tune their digital workplace to deliver exactly what their people want and need.
For example, Microsoft’s new Employee Experience platform – Microsoft Viva – builds on the power of Teams and Microsoft 365 to unify the employee experience across four key areas – Engagement, Wellbeing, Learning, and Knowledge – to help people thrive at work.
As well as making it easier for people to create and access wiki-style topic centres that enable subject experts to cultivate and share knowledge across the organisation, Microsoft Viva delivers the insights that managers and leaders need to identify when teams are being pushed too hard - and proactively adjust work norms accordingly.
According to Josh Bersin, a noted expert on employee experience, Microsoft Viva is a ground breaking platform that enables firms to truly empower people to learn, grow and succeed. Making it possible for law firms to focus on supporting workforce creativity, engagement, and wellbeing that will be key to creating resilient and truly engaged employees.
Here at Stridon, we believe that the technology law firms deploy should be a force for good. Innovations like Microsoft Viva now deliver the tools that law firms need to ensure their new hybrid working environments perform effectively for everyone.
If you're interested to learn more about Microsoft Viva then please get in touch!