Why 'Not Going To The Office' Will Hurt Your Future?
[00:00:00] Okay. I hate the idea of returning to the office during the pandemic. We've proven that work from home works. Productivity is at an all-time high. I've been able to live in a beautiful place, which has been significantly better for my mental health and safety. That's good. Being dragged back to the office feels like nothing more than a control/micromanagement issue with very old partners who lived in their tiny windowless offices for years to make it and think we should have to do the same.
Okay, great. From speaking with others, it seems like, that is a consensus among associates in my group and the vast majority of folks would prefer to stay remote.
I'm genuinely wondering why a significant number of us don't return to the office. With the market, the way they are, big firms are not going to fire people. What's stopping people?
Okay. So a couple of things about working from home versus working in an office and so forth. So there's an old saying in large law firms and this is something important to think about in terms of your career. There's an old saying in a large law firm in most law firms that, it's impossible to make a partner possible to make partner in a branch office. And that's certainly not something you probably want to hear if you're working in a branch office when others call. But[00:01:00] it's much harder, much, much harder because decisions are made by people that are in the main office, mainly. And so, making partner with them requires making partner and a lot of these big firms requires that you work in the main office. Now, if you're talking about not going into the office at all, in any office like a branch office, that's going to hurt your future.
One of the things I would also say is that a lot of the learning that happens inside of law firms is in face-to-face interactions. It's about things that people want to say in Zoom conferences are on the phone or in emails and that sort of thing. So a lot of the learnings are informal.
You will learn most of the stuff in informal settings. It'll remark things are said, things that aren't said, people stopping by your office, and all that sort of thing. So that's one thing to think about how are you going to get ahead if you don't have face-to-face contact with these older people that are coming to the office.
And I agree. It's no fun being in a tiny window of this office. And certainly, partners no fun. Your success [00:02:00] as an attorney is related to. And, It's much easier to get to work when you can stop by someone's office or you have a form relationship with them, or they see you in the office.
Then if you're not there. So that's one thing to think of. Now, in our company, for example, we have different types of employees. We have recruiters. We have, researchers we have, I dunno, writers, we have accounting, what else, legal. And we have certain people, if they work remotely, it's a problem. Because, a lot of times, they won't be working. I had an attorney that was working for me in the house not too long ago. And, I was on a hearing and in the middle of it, her phone turned on, and with her screen for some reason by accident, and she was in a mall, during shopping, during the middle of the hearing. Now, I'm not saying that's normal, but this kind of stuff happens. So law firms, you need to be, regardless of how you feel about your work environment, you need to realize that it's going to take certain things to get ahead in a law firm.
And, if that's not your goal, that's fine. But, it does take [00:03:00] certain things to get ahead. And the most important thing you can worry about is access to work. If you have access to work, then you're fine. And then you have to worry about training and relationships.
People that are gonna advance at your firm are going to be the ones that have the right training, the right relationships, and certain knowledge about different things. So those are some things to keep in mind. And then the only other thing I would think that's important is, everybody wants comfort and I'm no different than that.
I love watching TV and relaxing and exercising and, comfort. Comfort is something that everyone is going after, but the problem is, the more you chase comfort, the harder your life often is. And you can have comfort now, but you might not have as much comfort later.
I do not like working in a windowless office either. I've never worked in a windowless but, Yes, I have but at the same time, you have to think about, what is your career going to look like? If you're working in a big firm, the big firm can always find people to work there.
With some exceptions, most large law firms get lots of [00:04:00] applications for any job, and a lot of people don't want to work there. So at some point, they can easily take back the power. After all, they are the employer and so you may if you refuse to work there, go back to work.
I don't know how much that helps you because that's going to hurt you. One other thing attorney sues law firm or employer, a former employer with some exceptions. Unless you're a partner with a business, often unemployable. They will find that.
I'm not saying you would Sue your employer. Often unemployable, if you stick up to yourself. That way, it may hurt you in the long run. Not going back for refusing, may hurt you. Then the final thing is, and I hate to talk so much about this because there are a lot of questions. But I think, this is an important question is, you have to have the attitude of, what does my employer want and why in the park? Why in the office? Often, they just want company.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but they want company. They want to have you there. It makes them feel important. Makes partners feel important.
So you just need to think about it that way and, certainly, plenty of people that may not want all that.[00:05:00] And so, those would be places that you could work, but you have to just understand that, if you do come at it with that attitude, there's going to be issued.