Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | June 22, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal S15 Special Advertising Section S ince the COVID-19 pandemic transformed life as we know it, I couldn't be prouder of the way Bowditch has come to- gether, and united to help our clients through challenging business issues. e response has been extraordinary. Over the last few years, Bowditch put in place many of the things we needed to be on the cutting edge of client service. Our inter- nal Technology Innovation Council, a group of eight people at all levels of the organization, aligned our technology investments with the goals of better serving our clients and making it easier for our employees to work from anywhere. As a result of these investments and everyone's collaboration and cooperation, we experienced a smooth transition to our 100% working remotely environment with very few interruptions to client service. In early March, it was clear that in order help our clients confront and overcome this challenge, we would need to come together in a collective effort. Towards that end, we established a COVID-19 Legal Resources & Response Team, a multi-disciplinary task force that is equipped to handle the myriad of challenges faced by our clients in these difficult times. As all leaders quickly realized, those were the "easy" steps. Safely returning to a productive office environment under the current circumstances is a more challenging transition. Finding ourselves in unchartered territory, we began with external education and an internal back to work survey of all employees to give us a complete understanding of our needs and challenges. Our comprehensive reopening plan was developed with three core principles, which are that the decisions a) allow the firm to con- sistently provide excellent service and support to clients, b) ensure the long-term strength and stability of the firm, and c) protect the health and well-being of Bowditch employees. Internal training sessions were mandatory prior to an individual's return to our of- fices. We are now in the middle of our initial transition back to an office work environment. At the end of this phase, we will incor- porate what we learned and adjust for the next phase, if necessary. While we celebrate those aspects of the firm that worked well in a remote environment, we have also learned that some of our pro- cesses didn't transition well to a 100% remote work environment. For certain tasks, individuals need access to original files, equipment and other resources that exist at our physical office locations. ere are many circumstances where we need to meet with clients in per- son. And certain tasks and proce- dures are simply performed more efficiently from a physical office location. Perhaps a silver lining, if there is one, is what we learned about ourselves and our firm during this time. is insight will carve a path for further modernization and upgrades. It is worth noting that one key observation is how much change the individuals at our firm can absorb. Sometimes businesses move a little slower because its leaders think people need time to adapt. We discovered that our people could handle more than we thought and now are pushing us to innovate and change at even a quicker pace than we have in the past. I am excited to take our efforts even further. Finally, although we proved that most of our work can be accom- plished remotely, we sincerely missed the spontaneous interaction with colleagues. A remote environment doesn't lead to or nurture the deep relationships that all of us have at Bowditch. Working together, I am confident that we will effectively transition to the next phase in our journey. Robert D. Cox, Jr. Managing Partner Bowditch & Dewey LLP bowditch.com/covid • 508-791-3511

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