Staying in control when you’re out of the office

Summer productivity worries

It’s not simply that you’re not there to observe the progress of cases. Summer means a 20% dip in productivity for a lot of businesses, so you can easily worry that progress isn’t happening.

At the same time, other members of staff aren’t necessarily in the office either. 88% of hybrid workers intend to change their work setting in the summer and work remotely in the UK or abroad. That might make collaboration less smooth.

Hybrid work has left a lot of practice managers having to coordinate teams who aren’t in the same place. Can you count on that coordination happening without you?

Picking things up

Not every practice manager has the tools to intervene from afar if the firm needs them urgently. They might not have secure access to files, which means they can’t give practical help if there’s a firm emergency or unforeseen event.

Neither is it always easy to pick things back up when returning from holiday. It often involves sending lots of emails asking about the progress of cases. That is a time-consuming task which can leave information scattered through an inbox, among unread messages that arrived during annual leave, and the questions that pour in on your return.

That can also be exacerbated by a hybrid workforce. If your systems are set up for efficiency, it can feel far more efficient to speak in person and gather multiple updates in one conversation, but remote work means there are fewer opportunities to do that.

How can you fix these problems – and tackle underlying challenges?

The Summer holiday season can be a good time to scrutinise your practices ways of working and how effectively things are really running. The systems you have in place can make all the difference. If you have platforms and processes that force compliance and measurability, you’ll find it much easier to continue efficient ways of working regardless of whether you, or others on the team, are in the office or overlooking the ocean.