Does Your Firm’s Partner or Associate Want to Work From Home During Maternity Leave?
It’s not always easy to take six months off work for maternity leave. You have open cases, you know the clients better than anyone, and deals are in the pipeline that needs your input.
At the same time, you feel that leaving your little one at home with a babysitter or nanny at this early stage is not the best thing for the baby – and maybe not the best thing for you either.
So without judgment toward ladies that return to work quickly after the birth of their child, you and your law firm have been looking toward a work-from-home situation.
Why is the firm so interested in setting up a remote office for you?
It’s simple.
Good People Who Know Their Firm’s System And Their Clients Are Hard To Find.
To put it simply, you’re a hard person to replace!
(That’s a good thing.)
So, you and one of the firm’s administrative support staff start looking into what it will take to allow you to work at your pace and on your schedule from your home office.
What was your first step?
It was to call the IT professionals of Compunet.
The Compunet team has been caring for your firm’s IT for years, and you trust their staff enough to give them access to your home.
That’s a big deal.
In Your Conversations With Compunet, You Discover The Following About How They Support Vancouver Area Lawyers Working From Home.
- They set up and maintain remote offices and work-from-home situations for many of their clients.
- All you need at home is your computer. No extra devices or bulky hardware that takes up valuable living space.
- Your client’s information is as secure when operating from your home office as it is on the network at the firm.
- There are no limitations. Every tool you used at the firm can be leveraged from your computer at home.
After you and the admin assistant had your conversation with the Compunet representative, the decision was made to start the ball rolling.
What happened after that?
Compunet set up a convenient time for them to stop by your home and set up your computer with:
- Internet-based professional telephone extension
- Secure access to firm’s cloud applications
- Secure access to client files
- Virtual desktop – mirroring your desktop at the firm
In fact, the setup on your home computer so seamlessly mimicked your setup at the firm that you were able to jump into your work without any learning curve at all!
What Is The Advantage Of Implementing Work-From-Home Scenarios For Lawyers?
The obvious answer is that the firm does not have to lose the input of a valuable member of their team for an extended period of time and the clients can continue to be served by the same lawyers.
But there is more to the story.
You see, maternity leave is not the only instance where a work-from-home situation is advantageous to both the lawyer and the firm. Other life events that may cause individuals to consider this option are:
- Senior Care – Many of us are facing the need to care for parents who need our presence in the home but are not yet ready for the heavier load of care delivered by a nursing home.
- Sick Child Care – By making it possible for a parent to work from home and care for a chronically ill child, a firm does the right thing ethically and has the added benefit of retaining the stellar services of that lawyer or paralegal.
- Extended Illness – While historically it has been difficult or impossible for people with extended illness to work, cloud and virtualization options now make it possible to do work from anywhere. This option allows a person who is struggling with their health to still contribute to the firm while working part-time – or even full time at different hours – from home.
- Travel and Transition – Because we live in a mobile society, it cannot surprise us that sometimes the spouses of our co-workers find themselves in a place where a transfer to a new city is necessary. Cloud technology and remote offices eliminate the need for valuable members of your firm’s team to quit because their family has to move. Instead, a work-from-home situation can be established that provides a win-win scenario for the lawyer, their family, and the firm.
Can Compunet Support A Remote Worker In A Different Geographic Region?
Of course! Today’s IT support is not the same as it was ten years ago. No longer does a technician have to physically be in the same room as the computer that they are maintaining. With advancements in technology has come the ability for IT support technicians to securely take remote control of a computer and use that control to diagnose, update, patch, and repair as needed.
Want to know more? We’ve got some outstanding articles for you HERE.