Biglaw

Goodwin Procter’s ‘Flexible’ Reopening Plan: A Three-Day Workweek With ‘Hoteling’ Of Office Space

Say goodbye to your office space if you don't plan to come in three or more days each week.

By Staci Zaretsky on May 19, 2021 12:43 pm

GOODWIN PROCTER — MEMO — RETURN TO OFFICE UPDATE

U.S. Return to Offices Update

We will resume all in-office operations in our U.S. offices on Monday, September 13, 2021, subject to local government regulations and guidance from health authorities. Our offices in Europe and in Hong Kong will resume all in-office operations in adherence with individual office and country protocols.

We will be taking a flexible approach to working from our offices and do not expect to return to working from our offices five days per week. We will be particularly flexible for the remainder of the calendar year 2021. At that time, we will re-assess and possibly modify our approach. As a reminder, between now and September, all of our offices remain open to those who wish to use them, on an optional basis.

While we do not expect to resume all of our pre-pandemic routines, we do need to maintain our collaborative and dynamic culture, and to enhance learning and professional development opportunities. To do this, we encourage our lawyers be in the office at least three days per week starting the week of September 13. While all lawyers need to plan be in the office when necessary for specific client work, we do not expect to implement a rule or policy specifying the number of days per week a lawyer is required to be in the office. Lawyers should discuss with their teams what is optimal.

Counsel, associates and professional track attorneys who will work from the office fewer than three days per week should not expect to have a dedicated office space and may need to “hotel” when visiting the office (i.e., use a visiting office or a shared workspace arrangement). We will share additional details about this model in due course.

Over the next day or so, we will circulate a survey to U.S. partners, counsel, associates, professional track attorneys and GO! Team members asking about your preferences and office attendance plans come September. Based on the results of this survey, we will share additional information about space planning. Please note that completing the survey is essential, so please take a few minutes to do so.

While we do not plan to require vaccinations against COVID-19 to return to the office, we do strongly encourage those who are able to get vaccinated to do so. We do not expect to adjust our expectations about how frequently someone should work from the office based on vaccination status.

We encourage you to review the “Return to Office” page on the iNet for the latest updates and guidance including about returning technology equipment borrowed during the extended work-from-home period. We will share additional details with you over the course of the next few months.

If you have additional questions, please email the Return to Office Task Force.

Thank you.

MTB

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