Biglaw junior associates: what have you struggled most with during WFH and what strategies have you found most effective in resolving those difficulties? We’re organizing a training for our new first years on coping with WFH and would really appreciate any constructive suggestions you’re willing to share. Thanks!

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I like almost everything about WFH, but asking for work can be difficult remotely. It’s different having to email someone instead of being able to walk into their office.

likehelpful

A1, thank you. Appreciate the help.

It feels like the work never ends. And no one respects boundaries anymore. I can’t just say “I’m out of pocket” on the weekends anymore because everyone knows I’m at home just like they are. And people just e-mail at all hours of the night and on weekends. Just no separation.

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FWIW this was an issue back in the spring and to some extent summer in my group, but people gradually began to gently push back (i.e. a Saturday 2pm request gets a “will do but will not be back at computer until late tonight” type of response — often that revealed the ask was indeed not urgent but a monday item). By late summer it just got a lot better organically since everyone felt the same way.

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Honestly a genuine check in in the future about how WFH is going can go along way. Sometimes being a junior has been really lonely. It’s hard to hear partners and senior associates talking about how things have improved in their lives now when juniors may not feel like they belong yet. The fact you are thinking about a training seems like your firm is ahead of the game, but targeted dialogue downstream can help too!

likehelpful

2019!

Getting consistent workflow and feedback. It’s not a 100% fix, but one of my big wins in 2020 was identifying a partner who needed help but struggled with organization/delegation, and getting her to set a weekly standing meeting with me. It’s been a huge source of work for me, I get to be more involved in her deals since we regularly talk about updates or things that have gone on hold, and I think it’s been really helpful to her as well.

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Such a good idea/solution. I’m glad it worked. Thanks for sharing.

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I struggle with all the days running together and, even though I’ve been able to take some weekends off lately (at the expense of working long hours in the week), it isn’t the same because it just feels like any other day. I get fewer emails, but there’s nothing really to look forward to about not having to be in the office and being able to go out and do something.

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Basically twins. Also my daughter picked up baking and now it’s twice as bad. 😆🍪🧁🥧

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First year here. 1) the loneliness; 2) feeling like I’m behind where I would otherwise be were it not for covid.

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I think this is where there’s a huge divide between first years with families and first years who are single.

I absolutely love WFH, but I live with my husband and our dog, so I don’t really have loneliness issues. I actually really like my colleagues, but between my husband/dog and my colleagues, I’ll choose my husband and dog every time. I love the quality time I’m getting with them due to WFH. I love seeing my husband on my lunch break.

I really feel for first years who are single. I think that makes WFH a lot less advantageous. The biggest pro of WFH I’ve heard from people is more time with family.

Honestly? Back pain. A really expensive office chair (that I would never have considered buying before WFH) actually became a necessity and I was really envious of other firms whose office managers used their buying power to negotiate staff discounts!

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I love WFH but I’ve gained almost 10 pounds from not walking much and increased snacking 😐 I also miss the events with free food in the office. (Noticing a trend here...?)

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This is a great point. Thanks for raising it. My strategy is to do my most demanding important task during the time of day I’m most productive. For me that’s first thing in the morning. So I do my to-do list last thing every day. When I come to the office on a normal day I set to work right then on my most important work. I don’t take calls or check emails for a couple of hours. Then I take a 20 minute break to walk around respond to urgent calls and emails and get some tea. Then back to work for another 90 minutes. By lunch I have 3.5 hours and have usually checked the 2 or 3 most important things off my list. After lunch I clean out email and calls then take another 90 mins to work on projects. No email, calls or surfing. By 3 I have 5 billable hours. I tend to fade a bit late in the day so I do easier billable projects late in the day or return calls. By 7 I’m toast and have 6.5-7 billable hours and a couple of nonbill hours in the books.

To me the keys are planning my time, avoiding distractions like social media and surfing, and doing email only in designated periods rather than all the time. I also shut out distractions during 3 long work periods per day. Studies show that after every interruption it takes 15-30 minutes to regain your focus. That fact is a total productivity killer.

Hope something in there is helpful to you.

likehelpful

Figuring out a routine for billable hours. I understand every day is different, but I need help finding a routine that works best. It would be great to just hear from a bunch of people about their strategy.

For example, do people try and knock out admin work over the weekend so they can start billing right away on Mondays? Do they pick a day or two for longer days to bill during the week? Do they have a set goal to knock out before lunch?

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