What's great about suddenly finding ourselves in a virtual world
Photo by Farrel Nobel on Unsplash
Earlier this year I wrote an article arguing that the idea of a nine to five work day was outdated not only for the lawyer, but also the legal professional. At the time, I perceived those boundaries to be already changing in some industries and my intent was to continue the push for the legal industry. I imagined that change to gradually assert itself over time after many articles like mine, podcasts, discussions, management trainings, etc, etc, until such time when it became an accepted self-evident truth. What I did not expect was that there would be a giant virtual experiment that has the potential to change minds much, much faster.
But I can’t say I’m entirely unhappy about that.
To be clear, I’m not happy to be in a position where I have to worry about losing my job - and I’m not happy about the many people who already have. I’m just as concerned as everyone else about a contracting economy and overfilled hospitals. I don’t want myself or my family to get sick, and I certainly don’t want people to die. This is not about that. But all of those things can still be true while on another hand I see a very clear potential benefit to professionals such that I am.
The ability to work virtually has been around for a while now.
We’ve had video conferencing for years, the internet for even longer, and tools like webcams and microphones have only gotten better and better over the past few years. We have the ability to communicate globally, instantly, and constantly - and it’s fair to say we were not using even half of that ability as fully as we could have. Some companies, particularly those in tech, probably were doing a better job of it, but certainly the legal industry was not.
Now suddenly we find ourselves thrust into a completely virtual world, and what do I think is great about that? It works! A lot of jobs that are typically done in offices really can be done from anywhere.
Working from home is making that a fact so obvious you can’t argue it away.
Instead of having numerous conversations weighing the pros and cons, arguing about whether people will be more productive or less, and disregarding tangential benefits such as reduced traffic in cities and cleaner air for us all, we are now in a position where this MUST work. The show must go on, and the virtual world is where it’s going to happen.
So, yes, as someone who had the ability but not the opportunity, I am happy to work from home. I look forward to seeing the results of this experiment, and I believe they will be (unsurprisingly) favorable.
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