b'Local Government Lawyer 6Table 4: Overall, do you feel that the quality of your work output has. (General survey) What the survey said on 46% technology:37% The good The use of electronic signing and sealing software for contracts has been a real success, speeding up the process and avoiding 15% frequent trips to the office to print, post and physically sign and seal.2% Our ICT team had to build a dedicated server for our case management system which Improved compared to Stayed the same Not applicable means it now works well. when you worked in theThe bad However remote working is still not withoutinformal catch-up meetings to replace theThey need to provide more training on its problems, and some issues have deepenedimpromptu chats that naturally happen in thecollaborative technologysince our last survey. office. Many survey respondents cited regular Isolation and motivation have becomeonline meetings as essential for keeping upThe uglythe biggest challenge facing remote lawyers,to date and connected with their colleagues. replacing technology issues, the most pressingIn departments that do not have theseEmail traffic, as well as communications such issue identified in 2020. Sixteen per cent ofinteractions, lawyers appear to complain ofas IMs or chats have significantly increased lawyers surveyed reported that isolation/ worse motivation and team cohesion. which often leads either to matters being poor motivation is the biggest problem whenOne response, bemoaning inattentivemissed, or misunderstandings, particularly working from home in this survey (Table 1).management, said: Our senior managementas people dont seem to wait for a response Lawyers also said feelings of isolation and ahave done nothing! The impression is thatbefore sending another message, or messages lack of motivation have gotten worse than anythey dont care about us and out of sight isseem to be written in a hurry leading to poorly other remote working hurdle over the past 12out of mind. The morale of the whole teamwritten messages that are, at times, not at months (Table 2). is low, and its only the staff that are gettingall clear and leads us to wonder quite what Output increased significantly for thetogether themselves that is keeping us allplanet some are on!majority of the last year but Im finding agoing. The senior managers are shocking!lack of motivation in the last two months,This is also a problem for lawyers whoThe way the remote networking has been set noted one lawyer. Im missing face to facework in the office but are a part of a majorityup has meant that IT has regularly crashed and interaction. remote team. One such respondent said: I nobeen a hindrance to work- often inadequate. At some councils, this is down to a lack oflonger work remotely, although there is barelyVery frustrating.'