For in-house counsels remote work is here to stay, poll finds

Nearly half (46.5 percent) of in-house counsel report that they will keep the changes to their remote working policy going forward. 44.1 percent say they will revert back to the old policy when we go back to a “new normal.” Finally, 9.4 percent report that their organization has not changed its remote working policy due to Covid-19.

These are the main trends underlined by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) that has published the results of its fourth member flash poll on how the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact the in-house community, opened on June 30 and closed on July 3, with 249 ACC members providing answers. ACC members answered questions on their companies’ work from home policies, communications strategy, and collaboration efforts.

The open-answer responses echo this sentiment, with the top takeaways from ACC members being: Remote work is here to stay and that the expansion of telework is likely to limit in-person meetings and business travel. «This informal flash poll is further indication that the impacts of Covid on telework and remote work policies are likely to last much longer than first anticipated», said Susanna McDonald, vice president and CLO of ACC.

Some additional survey highlights show just how extensive remote working is the new normal, with 90.6 of respondents reporting a changed work from home policy due to Covid-19. Subsequently, 31.3 percent say they will need less office space as Covid causes organization to rethink office space needs. Four out of five respondents consider their company’s internal communications to be “about the right amount” in navigating the challenges posed by the pandemic.