THE VIRTUAL MANAGER: LEADING SUCCESSFUL TEAMS FROM AFAR #ILTA048 #ILTACON

THE VIRTUAL MANAGER: LEADING SUCCESSFUL TEAMS FROM AFAR #ILTA048 #ILTACON

PANEL MEMBERS Colleen Fitzgerald Cable Director of Information Services @ Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe Chris Myatt Director, User Services @ Seyfarth Shaw LLP Maria Smith Manager, IT Business Analysis & Training @ McDermott Will & Emery

DEFINITIONS Virtual Teams working exclusively in the traditional office with team members and management located across multiple locations Telecommuting working exclusively from the employee s home Work from home working outside the traditional office on an ad hoc basis

HAND POLL How many are currently managing a virtual, telecommuting, or work from home teams? How many are looking at transitioning to a virtual, telecommuting, or work from home teams? How many Firms chose virtual teams vs. low cost admin centers?

INDUSTRY TRENDS Recent general data Telecommuting has more than tripled over the last 30 years in the US, from.75% in 1980 to 2.4% in 2010 57% of US employers offered telecommuting to their employees Despite recent headlines, only 1% to 3% have terminated flexible work options in the last two years

INDUSTRY TRENDS HR 1722 Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 Purpose: To require the head of each executive agency to establish and implement a policy under which employees shall be authorized to telework... About 300,000 or 30% of eligible government workers telecommuted in 2012

INDUSTRY TRENDS Specific examples Best Buy Before terminating its telecommuting program, it found that turnover was 45% lower for those who participated Yahoo Banned all telecommuting in 2013, to improve worker collaboration and communication But then gave all employees their choice of a new smartphone if it were all about face-to-face collaboration and working onsite, why do employees all need iphones? Sara Sutton Fell, CEO at Flexjobs

INDUSTRY TRENDS Specific examples Sun Microsystems Avoided $64 million per year in real estate costs, $2.5 million on electricity and employees saved $2,335 per year in telecommuting costs Ctrip 9 month controlled experiment; 4 days a week from home, one day in the office Results Performance of home workers went up 13% Attrition dropped by 50% Company saved about $2,000/year/employee

INDUSTRY TRENDS Legal industry Flexible work arrangements seem primarily driven by focus on gender diversity issues at partnership level Could not find any commentary, articles or statistics focused on law firm employees generally

INDUSTRY TRENDS Legal industry examples Clifford Chance August 2015 announced move to agile working philosophy after leasing half of its office space to Deutsche Bank Diversity has been an issue after announcing in 2009 that the firm was targeting 30% female partnership (currently at 20.3%)

INDUSTRY TRENDS Legal industry examples Mishcon de Reya Work three days a week and take unlimited vacation Kevin Gold, Managing Partner Took these steps to try and help created a more balanced partnership

HIRING OR TRANSITIONING Does the role fit? Collaboration Virtual or face-to-face; relationship building Amount of time needed for each Measurement Project or Output Resources needed Available virtually? Training

HIRING OR TRANSITIONING Does the person fit? Don t get to excited, there are pros to telework, but there are also cons Soul searching Discipline/Environmental controls Resourcefulness Management needs Social Travel

ONBOARDING SHRM research shows that half of all hourly workers leave new jobs in the first four months, and half of all senior outside hires fail within 18 months. Instill culture Mentor Training Distance learning elearning Mentor

ONBOARDING Meetings Video Budget travel for visit to office(s) Technology

MANAGING Expectations Job requirements Measure and Review Documentation Engagement Communication style and medium Collaboration tools Feedback Accessibility (consider time zones!) Get personal Frequent team meetings

MANAGING Metrics Be explicit both individual and group It s outcomes! Fix it fast Promote success Measure success Training Mandate training Trust

TEAMBUILDING Administration Get Personal Create remote and local social connections Rewards or competition

GET PERSONAL

MAKE CONNECTIONS

3 Fun and Easy Virtual Team Building Activities Best Team Building Activities for Remote Teams 10 Team Building Exercises for Remote Virtual Dispersed Teams MORE IDEAS

EMPLOYEE RESPONSIBILITY Even more communication Seek expectations Know your colleagues Engage your leadership Office HR Other managers

TAKE AWAYS Draft policy document http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/26434

REFERENCES Lavey-Heaton, Megan. Working from home: how Yahoo, Best Buy and HP are making moves. The Guardian. 10 March 2014. Bloom, Nicholas. Does Working from Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese Experiment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 11 November 2014. Kinder, Taby. Clifford Chance s London Office set to Embrace Agile Working. The Lawyer. 4 August 2015. Beioley, Kate. Work three-day weeks and take unlimited holidays : Kevin Gold s Revolution at Mischcon de Reya. The Lawyer. 3 October 2014.

Q&A