We know that the rules of the office have changed. And along with firms such as Linklaters, DLA Piper, Baker McKenzie and others, we at Totum have made the decision to work half the time remotely on a permanent basis. As a firm we have always accommodated agile working: we have a number of part-time/flexible workers and have long had flexible start and finish times, so this is just another shift towards more remote working for all our employees. We will also be entirely comfortable with people travelling to and from the office at times where transport is expected to be less busy.    

Although, 9 -5 was never really part of Totum’s vocabulary, it definitely won’t be now. The team will be able to work remotely indefinitely and are recommending, without being prescriptive, two days a week in the office. We have introduced an online system to enable everyone to know who is in the office and to ‘book’ a space to ensure social distancing protocols. Over time we will move to a point where we are all in once a month. 

Tim Skipper, Totum's Director said, “We have always been, and continue to be, delighted by how engaged everyone is, and how we have kept high levels of productivity and enthusiasm throughout changing times. The lockdown didn’t put a stop to this and in fact worked really well… We've always had a sharing culture which translated to lockdown far more smoothly than we could have imagined. We continued to collaborate, setting up numerous virtual networking meetings with managers and leaders of firms large and small, and we took even more care to look out for each other, not just to make sure work and placements continued smoothly but to ensure everyone felt supported through such strange times.'  

And although we are embracing remote working, our office will still be open five days a week. We are, and continue to be, a people-focussed firm and our culture and office environment remain a key differentiator for our business. This step will enable us to work in a more flexible way to meet the many needs of our clients and candidates whilst also balancing our professional and personal commitments. 

In the new rules of the office, we are happy to lead the way. Fingers crossed we will all be able to meet in the office very soon.