“Flex and Firm: How should law firms handle return-to-office policies?” ABA Journal
publication | April 1, 2025
ABA Journal recently published an article authored by Hollingsworth LLP attorney Stephanie Salek, which discusses two recent studies regarding how law firms are managing the return to office, with flexibility playing a key role in success.
The University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business study reported that S&P 500 companies’ mandates caused a significant decline in employee job satisfaction, and they do not result in a significant improvement in firm performance. The study authors concluded some employees feel more productive when working from home and view return to-office mandates as a signal of management power-grabbing and lack of trust in employees.
In seeming contrast, Thomson Reuters’ 2024 Law Firm Office Attendance Policies Report — focusing on law firms only — found legal professionals have enthusiastically embraced new hybrid office attendance policies seeking to curtail the extent of remote work. But these results may not differ from the Katz study as starkly as it seems: Lawyers’ approval of return-to-office policies was driven by the policies’ “high degrees of flexibility and light-touch enforcement” — touchstones also noted in the Katz study.
While there are significant benefits to in-person interactions, employers should consider some remote interactions in the service of flexibility. For both a law firm and its employees to view a return-to-office policy as successful, employee satisfaction must be balanced with the firm’s needs regarding workflow and employee training.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to balancing employer and employee needs in today’s world of remote and in-person work. An overall approach of mandating some level of in-person interaction, while allowing for scheduling flexibility, may strike the right balance. This approach enables both employers and employees to reap the benefits of in-person interaction while allowing for the flexibility that the Katz and Thomson Reuters studies find drives employee satisfaction in the workplace.
ABA members can access the article online.