By Mike O’Brien Here’s a growing concern for employers over the last couple of years: discovering that an employee has moved from one state to another while working remotely during the pandemic. This situation presents a number of problems and challenges for employers. Imagine the situation where you are a state-based company and hire someone who lives in the state. Unless … [Read more...] about Did your employees move out of state during the pandemic?
telecommuting
Beware of privacy pitfalls when remotely monitoring telecommuters
Before the pandemic, 80 percent of U.S. employees worked primarily from an external workplace; today, only 21 percent do. Coaxing employees to return to the workplace will be an uphill battle, with recent surveys, including one from Pew Research, suggesting that 54 percent of those who are currently working remotely want to continue spending at least some of their working hours … [Read more...] about Beware of privacy pitfalls when remotely monitoring telecommuters
Tool: Model Remote Monitoring of Telecommuters Policy
Letting employees telecommute poses significant operational and management challenges to employers, not the least of which is ensuring that employees are actually doing their jobs and meeting expected productivity standards when working from home. Software, apps and other monitoring technology can go a long way in meeting this goal; but it can also get you into hot water under … [Read more...] about Tool: Model Remote Monitoring of Telecommuters Policy
Post-pandemic period a chance to try flexible staffing strategies
By Lynne Curry bio Question: COVID-19 hit our northern U.S. law practice hard. We cut employees, then salaries, and then we cut again. We lost half of our clients as their fortunes failed; other clients cut their work to the bone. Our revenue is down 70%. Some office staffers left our state when their spouses’ high-paying jobs evaporated. Others took off when COVID-19 … [Read more...] about Post-pandemic period a chance to try flexible staffing strategies
Professionals working remotely clock long and weekend hours
A new study by global staffing firm Robert Half shows employees are working around the clock while at home. More than half (55 per cent) of professionals who transitioned to a remote setup as a result of the pandemic said they work on the weekend. In addition, one-third (34 per cent) of remote employees reported regularly putting in more than eight hours a day. “Despite the … [Read more...] about Professionals working remotely clock long and weekend hours
How to ensure your firm can weather a disaster
Many law firms are not well prepared to weather a disaster, whether it's a physical one such as a flood or fire, or a technological one such as a data breach, says Catherine Sanders Reach, director of law practice management and technology for the Chicago Bar Association. In extreme cases, such as a terrorist attack or a hurricane, Reach says the damage done to unprepared law … [Read more...] about How to ensure your firm can weather a disaster
Telecommuters not working out? It’s not the flexibility that’s the problem; it’s your training program
Are you seeing a surge in low morale and unproductivity among your remote workers? Research suggests that it may be your lack of strategy and training that's to blame, not the flexibility. According to new national research from the Flex+Strategy Group (FSG), major corporations such as IBM may have gotten it wrong when they cited remote work as a barrier to innovation and … [Read more...] about Telecommuters not working out? It’s not the flexibility that’s the problem; it’s your training program
Nightmare on Main Street: Scary commutes
As the spookiest day of the year approaches, staffing firm Robert Half highlights the cities with the most hair-raising commutes. Last month, the company surveyed more than 2,700 workers from 27 major U.S. cities to determine how long they spend commuting to and from the office and which cities have the most stressed-out commuters. Here are the results: Average round-trip … [Read more...] about Nightmare on Main Street: Scary commutes
How your firm’s telecommuting policies affect your recruiting strategy
If you're rethinking your firm's telecommuting policies, hold on. There is a trend among some larger companies of bringing remote workers back into corporate offices, but candidates still expect work from home options, says new data from the MRINetwork 2017 Recruiter Sentiment Study. And while your intent may be to increase collaboration, creativity, mentoring, and innovation, … [Read more...] about How your firm’s telecommuting policies affect your recruiting strategy