Shoosmiths has re-opened its offices across England and Northern Ireland today and implemented a new way of working for its entire workforce.
The law firm, which has offices in Leeds, Birmingham and London, among other locations, is retaining a two-metre social distancing rule, will only allow a limited number of people in any location at one time, and has implemented a three-day notice-period for any attendance.
Shoosmiths Birmingham is also trialling ‘Base Camp’ through its Live Working platform, an online portal that allows members of staff to carry out and update an online risk assessment, book a desk and parking space, and find all the information required for the office to operate to its optimum ability through the challenges of Covid-19 with one click of a button.
Four key working principles are dictating the law firm’s office return. These include enhancing the client experience through a flexible approach, and giving members of staff individual autonomy and responsibility for how they work.
Flexible working and working from home will always be approved, unless a manager has a compelling business case as to why it cannot work at that time, and the use of technology will take precedence over the use of floorspace.
Simon Boss, chief executive officer of Shoosmiths, said: “The pandemic has brought about a seismic shift in how we work, and we’ve adapted to this with enhanced agility. It’s not a case of going back to the old ways of working—we have chosen to embrace the change and do things differently and build on everything we’ve learned over the past few months.”
“I am incredibly proud of how we’ve adapted as a firm—from the commitment and flexibility of our colleagues, to the speed at which our IT team fast-forwarded our working from home ability. Our new ‘Your How’ principles build on all this good work, and more importantly, goodwill.”
Boss added: “We have taken the opportunity for a radical refresh of our talent proposition which we know will improve working life for our teams, aid our diversity and inclusion agenda, increase our talent pool and enhance our client offering. This is a game changer.”
