How Working from Home Saved Me

My daughter was close to 2 when I reached my breaking point of being a working mom. I couldn’t handle the 3-hour ordeal to climb into my office anymore. I felt like I was scaling a mountain every morning, and I was exhausted. I would later find out that this was also a symptom of depression – this feeling that everything was just too much.

I asked my supervisors if I could work from home one day a week. I was told no – everyone needed to be in the office every day.
I realized that this meant I couldn’t stay there in the long run. I was completely burning out from the traditional law firm office environment.

In addition to the commute, I did much better work without having to achieve “beauty expectations” daily – hair, makeup, nails, outfit, heels, purse, etc. I also work better in casual clothes. I am uncomfortable if I have to wear a suit all day. Not to mention I’ve been harassed or made to feel uncomfortable in many of my in-person working environments.

When I started my own law firm in July 2019, everything was entirely remote. Since then, I regularly check with my employees to see if they want a physical space. The answer has always been, “no thanks. We’re good.” We have an office space where we can meet with clients, and we rarely use it, because clients would rather talk to us on the phone.

Leaders, please take this into account when we start to return to the office. You will lose good people if you force a one size fits all approach to the workplace. Even if you like working in the office, not all your employees prefer it.

--

Are you an in-person, remote, or hybrid adopter? If you are remote, what made you seek remote working, other than COVID?

Want more legal industry content? Follow me on LinkedIn and click the notification bell 🔔 in my profile here: Katie Lipp

👑 This is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Build Your Empire: A Law Firm Owner's Survival Guide to the Private Legal Industry. If you want to read more, sign up for the waitlist by clicking here.