Make Money Monday: Where You Need To Be Remote

Last week, the New York Times reported on a recent study by WalletHub which ranked each state on its suitability for remote work. The survey evaluated two primary factors: employer-friendly characteristics such as the number of people already working remotely and worker-specific features such as cost of electricity and Internet and average housing and lot sizes. Delaware, North Carolina and Georgia topped the list, while Alaska ranked last.

What difference does a state’s suitability for remote work mean for law firms? Plenty. For starters, if you live in a remote-work friendly state, your employees may expect your firm to have similar policies. In other words, to compete for talent, you may need to consider allowing remote work. Second, in remote-work friendly states, potential clients are likely to be more accepting of the benefits of remote lifestyle. As a result, they’ll be more likely to view face to face visits as a hassle and expect online meetings and email communications.

The decision to return to work in an office is, no doubt, a personal preference that you can make as you choose. But if you want to continue to attract talent and serve the needs of post-pandemic clients, you’ll probably realize that you’ll need a remote option as well.