It looks like we are going to be in lockdown for some time. We know why, but will it bring long time changes in the way we work?
Mr Hartley was old school, he wore a waistcoat regardless of the temperature, had silver hair which was neatly parted at the side and a trimmed moustache. In 1981 he was the senior partner at general practice law firm McDonald Stacey in King’s Bench Walk, Inner Temple. I was his articled clerk (trainee solicitor).
The Inner Temple is one of four Inns of Court at the upper end of Fleet Street where barristers have their offices known as ‘Chambers’. The Inns of Court are private roads screened off by wardens and barriers. Each is a haven of old world tranquility, with cobblestone alleys and lush gardens where barristers ponder their cases in peace and quiet.
Mr Hartley’s office was in the middle of Inner Temple. He had an oversized leather lined desk in a vast office, which he shared with me. I had a small desk which faced the wall.
Sue, a middle-aged self important busy-body, came into Mr Hartley’s office every day at 10.30, after opening the post, to take down shorthand letters. She was a secretary; so not part of the typist pool which prepared legal documents and amendments every day.
At 4.30 in the afternoon, on the dot, Sue would return to Mr Hartley’s office with the typed letters in a large book of blotting paper and phone messages. Mr Hartley would sign each letter with his fountain pen and place each letter between the sheets of blotting paper so as not to smudge his signature and issue instructions to Sue who would note them down.
One Spring day, Mr Hartley asked me to accompany him to a conference with Counsel, I cannot remember what the conference was about now. We left the office at 2.45 for the 3.00 ‘con’. On the way there, Mr Hartley handed me a 12 inch ruler and told me to sit directly behind him. Counsel’s clerk gave us a cup of tea when we arrived and I sat down where I was instructed to hear Counsel’s opinion which I noted down in long hand in a blue Counsel’s Notebook.
At about 3.20, Mr Hartley dropped off, I then realised what the 12 inch ruler was for, and gently prodded him awake.
It was common practice for Mr Hartley to leave the office at 12.30 for ‘lunch at his Club’ where ‘business’ was being done with his colleagues over a liquid lunch. He never came back drunk - but was known to have a snooze in the afternoon from which he would awake at 4.00 to sign the post. He would then leave at 5.00 to return to his Club for a few hours before going home.
After qualifying as a solicitor I left McDonald Stacey to join the tax department of Allen & Overy. Here the pace and style of work was very different. Allen & Overy was at the forefront of technology with desk mounted dictation machines and a ‘fax’ which could send letters ‘down a wire’!!!
My first task as a newly qualified solicitor was to report on the VAT treatment of an interest rate swap - imagine trying to do research on cutting edge financial instruments with no internet or online guidance - only libraries of books.
Let’s move on - hypothetically- to April 2021. A management board is convened by video conference to analyse last year’s accounts against previous years. They are on everyone’s screens. Remarkably, the revenue for 2020/21, remained stable and in some departments increased - Why?
Without interruptions, travel and conferences - most employees were able to ‘get on with their work’. They were also more client focussed, more able to cross refer business to other departments and to other areas of expertise throughout their network. Most introductions were made on a recommendation so no need for face to face meetings.
The board noted that not only profits were stable, if not up, but expenses were down, on travel and conferences, with the possibility of further cuts on London office space with remote working.
Jon de Jager is Managing Director of global campaign consultants C.T.Group and our Podcast Professional for the week. The C.T Group is possibly best known for its campaigns in getting political leaders elected such as Boris Johnson as Mayor of London in 2010, and then as Prime Minister in 2019.
At the heart of C.T. Group’s expertise is research, and the question ‘why’. Why do stakeholders hold certain views, why are they emotionally attached to those views and how can we deliver messages to make them change their behaviour? The stakeholders in the above hypothesis are employees and the question is why do they need to meet face to face?
Digital technology for remote working has been around for years; video conferencing, webinars, podcasts and emails but we have not used them. My hypothesis as to why we meet face to face is that we ‘like’ to. Just as Mr Hartley liked to meet his mates at his Club. We are social animals and like to meet.
But is our travel, commuting, London office desks and meetings really necessary to do business or because we ‘like’ it?
In the short time since the world has stopped travelling the NO2 levels in the planet have dropped 21% since the same time in 2019.
Surely it is arguable that by April 2021 there will be pressure to increase productivity, enhance profitability and look after our planet by the reduction of face to face meetings
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Keep safe, keep strong and keep well.