We recently conducted a survey of legal tech workers to determine how working remotely during the pandemic has changed their outlook on work-life balance and thoughts regarding the eventual return to the office. Respondents came from legal vendors, law firms, government, and corporate legal sectors with a variety of job titles and functions across the board. We learned that many people are prepared to quit their jobs if they cannot continue working remotely. We learned that simply having more personal time during the day has become one of the most important priorities for the post-pandemic legal tech workforce. Lastly, we identified the best employers for legal tech professionals who feel remote or hybrid setups are a top priority.
To understand the changes, we must first understand who was already working remotely, and where everyone else is working currently. According to those who completed the survey, nearly 40% were already working remotely prior to the pandemic, just over 30% shifted to remote work during the pandemic and have been told they must return to the office at some point in the future, roughly 25% are returning on a “hybrid” basis, and only 5% are already back in the office full time.
I won’t go back – you can’t make me.
Considering those workers who made the shift to remote work during the pandemic, a full 50% of them told us they would not go back to the office full time even if it meant quitting their job. This is a clear indication that the benefits of working from home have become apparent to a large number of legal tech professionals. Between those already remote and those that would like to be, a 63% majority favored remote work as a permanent solution.
Personal time on workdays becomes a higher priority than vacation time/PTO as work-life balance concerns climb to the top of the list of priorities.
We asked individuals taking our survey to rank an identical list of items by their importance before and after the pandemic. These results are very interesting: While 50% of people ranked salary as their #1 priority both before and after the pandemic, a shift occurred when ranking item #2. Prior to the pandemic, 38.9% of people ranked salary as #2 and after, only 22.2%. This shift could be attributed to a preference for remote work and having more free time during the day. There was also a noticeable shift away from prioritizing PTO and vacation time, perhaps because people feel less of a need to \”get away\” when enjoying the benefits of a more favorable work-life balance afforded to them by cutting out long commutes.
Below are the overall results of the priority ranking portion of the survey. The information presented indicates how the majority of individuals ranked their priorities before and after the pandemic.
Priorities pre- and post-pandemic: The responses
When you consider your beliefs about work-life balance BEFORE the pandemic, how would you rank the following, 1 being the highest priority and 11 the lowest?
#1 Salary
#2 Short commute
#3 Ability to work remotely (away from your home) while traveling or staying at a summer home, family home, co-living space away from the place you actually live
#4 PTO and vacation time
#5 Having free time before and after work for personal and family activities such as time with kids and pets, exercise, studying, reading, and yoga.
#6 Ability to work on a fully remote basis
#7 Ability to work remotely from your home some days
#8 Benefits package
#9 Job title
#10 Awards and recognition from employer
#11 Ability to move or relocate while remaining in the same role with the same company
When you consider your beliefs about work-life balance NOW, after 14 months living and working during the pandemic, how would you rank the following? 1 (top) should be the highest priority and 11 (bottom) the lowest priority?
#1 Salary
#2 Ability to work on a fully remote basis ↑1
#3 Having free time before and after work for personal and family activities such as time with kids and pets, exercise, studying, reading, and yoga.↑2
#4 Short commute
#5 Ability to work remotely from your home some days
#6 Ability to work remotely (away from your home) while traveling or staying at a summer home, family home, co-living space away from the place you actually live
#7 PTO and vacation time ↓2
#8 Benefits package
#9 Job title
#10 Awards and recognition from employer
#11 Ability to move or relocate while remaining in the same role with the same company
Legal tech-ers are not alone!
According to a recent survey released by Team Blind, 64% of professionals surveyed would prefer to be allowed to work remotely on a permanent basis rather than receive a $30K pay raise!
Best places to work a remote career
Which sector of the Legal Tech vertical looks most promising for fully remote work? Those working at legal vendors or consulting firms had the highest percentage of working remotely prior to the pandemic. Second best? Law firms seem to be transitioning to a hybrid model based on the results.
For a link to view all results, click here
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