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1. This is the most important reason in the list - Homes were out safe places. Our homes were places where we could return to every day after the drudgery of a working day to relax and spend time with family, friends and other loved ones. That's gone thanks to WFH. WFH also means that you are encroaching on your family members space where they could do as they pleased at THEIR homes. Every time you have to take a conference call now, the whole family has to make sure that there are no loud noises, people can't talk normally within their own houses. Law firms please recognise you have 'encroached' people's houses so that your business can continue.
2. There was an implied agreement when we signed our retainer agreements. That the Firm would provide a safe working environment and a functional office with necessary infrastructure, which you could utilize to optimize our work. WFH turned that around. Now we are forced to work from home, with limited resources and are expected to have the same level (if not more) of output/ quality.
3. None of the law firms declared as to how long would WFH would continue. It was just indefinite and one could be called back any time. Unlike some big tech companies such as Google, etc. which up front declared that WFH would be effective till June, 2021, etc. The end result is that lawyers are still paying rent for rented accommodation in their city of work while they are actually not staying in such rented accommodation and are working from their home town. Lawyers could have saved lakhs of money!
4. No relaxation of targets, while bonuses and increments were either suspended, delayed or entirely denied. Is that fair?
5. No policy to govern WFH peculiarities. The partner and other seniors feel free to call at odd hours to give more and more work. Is that not harassment?
6. Expenses related to WFH (this is to some degree connected to 2 above). WFH from meant extra expenses for lawyers. Hi speed WiFi at home (because those dongles provided by firms are shit), furniture, laptop stands, accessories, second screens, etc etc. All of these add up to extra costs. Has any law firm offered any allowance/ reimbursement for these expenses?
7. WE ARE LIVING THROUGH A PANDEMIC. It's in caps for all those people who tend to forget. Mental health has been affected drastically. People have lost loved ones and are suffering from grief. Medical expenses have gone up. There's uncertainty about the future. People are afraid of who else might get infected and who they may lose. There are not enough vaccines out there. The state absolved itself of all responsibility during the second wave. And yet lawyers are supposed to work through all this and act like every thing is normal.
Note : Before any smart aleck responds by saying "what's stopping you from coming back to office", I'd like to say this. I should not be made to compromise my safety for livelihood. I should not have to make a choice between being at danger of contracting a deadly virus by coming to work daily and letting my work from home affect my mental health and slowly kill me. That's a choice between a risk of dying and killing yourself slowly. That's not realy a choice.
And to anybody who is thinking "then don't work in a law firm na" - yes I could stop working in a law firm and the law firm could easily find a replacement for me. No, I don't want to leave a law firm. I don't want to be unemployed in a pandemic. All I want is for law firms to recognise the hardships we are all going through and maybe appreciate that we've gone beyond the norm to work for them to ensure THEIR profits and normal operations. Without us, they would not have made the money they did. Know this, while lawyers would be able to somehow manage without law firms, law firms can never manage without lawyers. The lawyers enabled WFH, not firms, while making so many sacrifices with no extra motivation. Gratitude from the law firms would not be misplaced.
I really hope law firms' management reads this honestly and not pass this off as another rant on Legally India. Stay safe and healthy y'all.
HAHAHAHA