Telecommuting as a Recruitment Tool
 August 8, 2008

Acceptance of telecommuting among law firms is increasing as a standard work arrangement on a temporary or occasional basis.  But we have recently placed several senior “C Level” positions with large international law firms where the individuals are effectively hired with the expectation that they will work out of a non-headquarter office or routinely spend a portion of their time working from home.  For example, an East coast firm wanted to hire a CIO who didn’t want to move from her Midwestern location until her children finished high school in a couple of years.  Given that the job required 25 percent travel anyway, the firm agreed to permit the CIO to work from home for about half of the time.  This can be an especially attractive option for firms in relatively undesirable locations.  Several firms have administrative staff members working out of their Washington offices, where the availability of qualified candidates was greater, rather than moving them or having them commute to their headquarters. 

We are advised that the key to making these types of arrangements work is a very clear set of expectations and standards for both the firm and the individual.  We are also told that a good web-based video conferencing system helps.