Global law firm Linklaters is introducing a new global agile working policy for its 5,200 employees.
The organisation’s enhanced remote working policy will allow employees to work from home 20-50% of the time, even after Coronavirus restrictions are lifted, as long as this is communicated to teams beforehand and operational roles are fulfilled.
Linklaters is also consulting with employees over the prospect of flexible start and finish times, modified daily hours and modified overall hours, to fit in with commitments outside of work. This is in addition to the formal flexible working policy that the organisation introduced in April 2019, where any employee regardless of their time with the organisation, can request a flexible working pattern if they have a legitimate reason to do so.
Andrea Arosio, managing partner at Linklaters, said: “The Coronavirus pandemic and our enforced remote-working experiment has given us an opportunity to take stock and revisit how we approach agile and remote working. Our recent experience has demonstrated that, while we are a people-focused business and collaboration is key, remote working has worked remarkably well and we can deliver high-quality work whilst working remotely.
“Conversely, it has also reinforced the huge benefits we and our clients obtain from face-to-face interaction and the value of our offices as hubs of teamwork and learning and this policy does not detract from that.
“Being agile is essential to our business, meeting the needs of our people and our clients. We are committed to fostering our agile culture which encourages our people to develop working arrangements which suit their needs along with those of the firm and our clients.”