Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has launched a pilot program in Hong Kong to allow staff to work in a fully agile manner, removing approval requirements and other barriers.

The firm has removed any restrictions and conditions for agile working, according to Hong Kong managing partner Alastair Mordaunt. "There's no cap of the amount of time in a week you can agile work, there's no need for a justification for agile work, and there's no need to seek permission," he said.

Mordaunt stressed the pilot nature of the program and that it is not necessarily a permanent revision of the firm's policy. "It's a pilot and we are obviously learning things as we go and we will incorporate those learning into our policy. … We wanted to test what works [and] what doesn't," he said. "Whether we will revise our existing policy, we are not certain at this point, but I'll be surprised if we didn't."

The program, which started in May in Hong Kong when the office resumed full-time operations, applies to all staff in the office unless the employee needs to be in the office to perform their jobs.

"We, like everyone else, were forced into a position where we had to work more agile in the last few months," said Mordaunt, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic that has led law firms and other companies in Hong Kong's populous commercial and business districts to suspend or reduce office operations between February and April.

Mordaunt said during that period staffers discovered that they were able to maintain a high standard of client service even if they weren't all in the same location. Meanwhile, the firm has also made improvements in technology. "Those two things together gave us the confidence that actually agile working can work well in the sense that it can benefit everyone in the office whilst ensure that we still deliver what we need to deliver to our clients," he said.

Although challenges resulting from the coronavirus contributed to people's needs to agile work, Mordaunt said the pilot is not just because of the pandemic. "The moment that COVID disappears, it doesn't mean that the pilot will no longer apply, this is very much forward-looking post-COVID," he said.

Currently, the pilot program only applies to Freshfields' Hong Kong office, the firm's largest office in Asia. The potential expansion of the program to the firm's other offices will still depend on how the rest of the firm reopens offices following COVID lockdowns. "My sense is that generally speaking the firm is supportive of making sure that we can harness the benefits of agile working even when we come out of COVID," he added.

Hong Kong underwent unprecedented political unrest in 2019 when protests often resulted in disruptions in transportation and at times escalated to violent clashes during office and commute hours. Many firms have since allowed some degree of agile working in Hong Kong for commute and safety concerns.

Freshfields did the same. But while the protests will likely continue, Mordaunt said, like COVID, it's not the reason for launching the pilot. "I don't think when we were deciding the pilot program we were thinking [about that] because of concerns about the protests or even COVID," he said.

"It's more the experience we had as a result of those instances where we've proven to ourselves we can do this and we can see that there are so many obvious benefits to agile working," he added.

By removing barriers such as an approval process, Mordaunt hopes for a change in culture and mindset. "Unnecessary barriers have the potential to put people off," he said. "People might feel quite uncomfortable asking for it and [worry if others are] going to think any less of them because they are asking to work from home."

Mordaunt said the pilot does place a great deal of importance on communications. The firm is encouraging lawyers and staffers to use shared calendar or other technology to make clear whether they are in the office or not. "It effectively means that we all have to be really good at letting everyone else know where we are," he said, "because obviously if we are working agilely, you still need to be—and our expectation is that you are—still as accessible as though you are in the office, and as responsive to clients as though you are in the office."

Freshfields moved its office to Hong Kong's Quarry Bay district in 2017, and the 40,000-square-foot space afforded the firm significant improvement in its office experience with facilities such as collaboration areas, a wellness room and an in-house café. The firm has kept a smaller office in the area long populated by banks and law firms known as Central.

Mordaunt said it's too early in the pilot to see the program's impact on office space. People will still see the importance of being in an office environment, both in terms of better facilities and for collaboration in teamwork. Most people have been in the office most of the time so far since the pilot launched, he noted, although he acknowledged that this may be caused by the excitement of coming back to the office after spending months at home during COVID.

Once staff settle down to the new normal, Mordaunt said he hopes a decent number of people will be taking advantage of the agile working pilot. "But I don't think it means suddenly we are going to have an empty office," he said.

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