ACC members answer questions on work from home (WFH) policies, communications strategy, and collaboration efforts
WASHINGTON (July 8, 2020) — The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) published results of its fourth member flash poll on how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the in-house community. ACC members answered questions on their companies’ work from home (WFH) policies, communications strategy, and collaboration efforts.
Nearly half (46.5 percent) of respondents report that they will keep the changes to their remote working policy going forward. 44.1 percent say they will revert back to the old policy when we go back to a “new normal.” Finally, 9.4 percent report that their organisation has not changed its remote working policy due to COVID-19.
The open-answer responses echo this sentiment, with the top takeaways from ACC members being: Remote work is here to stay and that the expansion of telework is likely to limit in-person meetings and business travel.
“This informal flash poll is further indication that the impacts of COVID on telework and remote work policies are likely to last much longer than first anticipated,” said Susanna McDonald, vice president and CLO of ACC. “From conferences and business travel to WFH, organisations are looking for, and helping create, a ‘new normal’ that works for employees and leadership alike.”
Some additional survey highlights show just how extensive remote working is the new normal, with 90.6 of respondents reporting a changed WFH policy due to COVID-19. Subsequently, 31.3 percent say they will need less office space as COVID causes organisation to rethink office space needs.
Four out of five respondents (81.5 percent) consider their company’s internal communications to be “about the right amount” in navigating the challenges posed by COVID.
The survey also shows the number of respondents who feel “very comfortable” with videoconferencing to have risen from 22.1 percent pre-COVID to 70.7 percent now, a jump of almost 50 points. The most popular WFH communications software is Microsoft Teams, according to the poll, with 69.5 percent of respondents reporting use. The second most popular software is Zoom, at 43 percent, followed by Skype for Business at 36.5.
This poll opened on June 30 and closed on July 6, with 249 ACC members providing answers. This is the fourth in a series of informal polls designed to elicit feedback from in-house counsel on a variety of topics related to the impact of COVID-19. The full results, including the free responses, are available on the ACC website.