Dive Brief:
- Roughly 63% of in-house counsel have schedules that include both remote and on-site work, according to a 2022 survey of more than 2,000 professionals.
- Of the in-house lawyers working hybrid schedules, a combined 57% can work from home either two or three days a week.
- Meanwhile, roughly 24% of in-house professionals are working fully remote jobs and about 10% hold positions that feature full-time work from the office, the report from the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and Empsight found.
Dive Insight:
The ACC and Empsight report said the high percentage of in-house counsel who hold jobs that include both working from home and in the office “suggests that organizations are moving toward a more permanent hybrid work model as we move out of the [COVID-19] pandemic.”
The figures also align with reports that many in-house job candidates have sought positions that allow them to work remotely some or all of the time.
In what had been a hiring market strongly tilted in favor of job candidates earlier this year, many companies were meeting prospective hires’ demands for flexible schedules.
The highest percentage of in-house lawyers with hybrid schedules can work from home two days a week (30%), closely followed by those who can work remotely three days a week (27%).
Additionally, 23% of employees say they are able to work from home five days a week, but may choose not to do so, according to the report.
Employers’ growing embrace of remote work has come amid steady movement among in-house lawyers to different jobs.
Roughly one-third of survey respondents have changed positions in the last two years, according to the ACC and Empsight report.
“This percentage is highest among those in business services (50%) and pharmaceuticals (46%) and lowest among those in associations (22%) and utilities (21%),” the report said.
Meanwhile, nearly one in five respondents said they are “likely” or “very likely” to change jobs in the next year. This figure is far lower than a recent report from Wolters Kluwer in which 70% of in-house corporate lawyers said they are very to somewhat likely to leave their current positions in the next year.
