Mental well-being and work-life balance have become part of mainstream conversation in law departments and firms. Now more than ever, in these strange times, the coronavirus pandemic has forced workforces around the world to operate from home during the past few months. With this, employees are facing new issues, including how to juggle work and child care, and how to switch off and separate work and home life.

Mental health and well-being is a serious issue on law firm agendas, with publicized initiatives bringing real and meaningful change. In the United States and the United Kingdom, firms have been striving to improve work-life balance for their lawyers and staff.

But other countries also have initiatives designed to support workers. In Germany, for example, the law restricts not only how many hours lawyers can work per week (48 max), but also how soon they can start a new working day after finishing the previous evening. In 2018, South Korea introduced a new measure to tackle a culture of working overtime and ruled that all employees must switch off their computer by 8 p.m. on a Friday. In Singapore, the Ministry of Manpower established the "Work-Life Grant," aimed at providing funding and incentives for companies to offer flexible work arrangements to employees.

International law firms must work hard and have strategies in place that embrace these variations across jurisdictions.

Law firms and legal departments need to understand the cultural, professional and emotional drivers across their workforces, as well as the working regulations and current government guidelines regarding social distancing in the country in which they reside. One initiative designed to support the mental health and well-being of its workforce might not be right or applicable for employees in a different jurisdiction. This is particularly true now, when some workforces are being forced to work from home and others are able to return to the office.

Outside of the coronavirus, cultural differences are extremely varied across the world and need to be taken into consideration as part of international companies' mental health agendas. For example, in certain cultures there is an expectation that elderly relatives are looked after by their families. Many professionals will abandon successful careers at this point in their lives, as there might not be the right support in place from their employers to help them. The knock-on effect is that the profession loses a lot of senior talent. But if these employees were provided with the right support as well as flexibility, they would benefit from being able to continue their role, and their employers would benefit by stemming an outflow of talent and skill.

Cross-cultural divides are a challenge for any global law firm or legal department manager. And that's truer now more than ever for managers who are having to grapple with employees who have to, or wish to continue to, work from home. The key is to understand these points of difference, as well as where they come from, and be able to present opportunities for healthy work-styles and work-life balance for all.

Matthew Kay is managing director of Vario at Pinsent Masons