The Daily Telegraph

City lawyers can work from home with 20pc pay cut

- By Poppie Platt

STAFF at a top London law firm will be allowed to work from home full time – but only if they agree to take a pay cut of 20 per cent.

Stephenson Harwood will reduce the salaries of staff who opt for permanent remote working under a new policy set to come into force next month.

The City firm confirmed the policy would apply to its central London head- quarters and most of its internatio­nal offices. A spokesman told The Times that staff must work in the office for at least 60 per cent of the year, which works out around three days a week, or face a salary reduction.

Workers who choose to stay fully remote will still be required to com- mute into the office at least one day a month, but their salaries will drop by 20 per cent.

For junior lawyers at the firm, who have starting salaries of £90,000, this would mean a loss of around £18,000.

On the requisite one day a month spent in the office, the homeworker­s’ travel and hotel expenses would be reimbursed. Law firms, businesses and government department­s have been forced to offer incentives to get workers back behind their desks.

“Like so many firms, we see value in being in the office together regularly, while also being able to offer our people flexibilit­y,” a spokesman for Stephenson Harwood said. “For the vast majority of our people – and the candidates we speak to – our hybrid working policy works well.”

The policy is applied on a case-bycase basis, with partners ineligible for the permanent working-from-home option, but it is expected to appeal to older, more establishe­d and experience­d staff members rather than trainee or junior lawyers.

Stephenson Harwood recorded a global revenue of £209million in 202021, with the average pay for full equity partners standing at £685,000.

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