Work Life Balance

Current conveyancing practices lock us into the rigid 9-5 work ethic and clocking up overtime to meet deadlines. Current conveyancing practices also dictate that the work has to be done at the office where you have access to the file, the fax and the copier. Even if you wanted to work from home what can you do? You could take a file or two home with you and make a couple of phone calls. There just aren’t many options that a conveyancer can avail themselves if they want to have some flexibility.

Yet as reported by the FinReview, a quarter of the workforce is doing some work from home but it’s chiefly because people are trying to catch up on what they failed to finish at the office. All too often conveyancers are staying back after hours to complete auction documentation, collating and photocopying voluminous documentation for the upcoming auction

The ability to work in the office and from a home office would suit many people.

Technology is the answer. Online digital solutions will facilitate productivity by shifting the focus from offline paper to an online digital alternative. It will facilitate flexibility. Conveyancers will be able to work at the office and at home. The majority of conveyancers are women. I don’t think that is disputed. Trying to achieve the work/life balance is the holy grail. Part-time work, job sharing and flexible work place options are very important to raising kids and the demands placed on all of us outside work. Don’t get me wrong, working in the office amongst colleagues and with supervision and support is still the primary option.

Conveyancing – online, offline, digital – what goes?

For a start law firms just need to start waking up and making a concerted effort to keep up and start focusing on internal work practices. Digital and electronic conveyancing solutions are part of it. But the firm needs to focus on simple available solutions and start using them. Shun the fax. Shun the photocopier. Think, document scanning, PDF. email

Why? You are simply not providing the optimum work environment for your staff.

I want to drop my kids off at school a couple of days each week. Well I can if I can do some work from home before 8.30.