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Home sweet home: Greetings from the living room

Half of Germany is currently working from home due to the corona pandemic. We at PASCHEN Rechtsanwälte are no exception – most of our attorneys and paralegals moved their office into their own four walls weeks ago and since then mainly communicate via video connection.

Although the nationwide forced digitalisation during the corona crisis may be a real challenge for some companies – PASCHEN has long been experienced in this area. We have been using a digital office for many years, working largely paperless and communicating with our clients almost exclusively electronically. This early adoption has paid off, especially in these days. Our employees did not have to lug mountains of files home, and contact with clients and colleagues from our other locations continues uninterrupted as before. Meetings and recently even seminars have been held online. Only a handful of employees still sit in our offices – naturally in compliance with the prescribed distance and hygiene rules.

The remote office is nothing new for most of us, especially those with small children are familiar with working from home. But being separated from your colleagues for such a long time period needs getting used to – especially when your offspring replace your colleagues and compete for parental attention. “My two daughters are always around me, it’s always ‘Mummyyyyy?!’ – I’m getting tired of hearing it,” laughs Jeannine Ziehm, the office manager in Berlin. She finds it quite relaxing to come to the office for a day in between, where things are quieter. Nicole Regen, a paralegal, is one of those employees who still comes to the office most days and holds down the fort: “I usually drive to work by car and avoid public transport. Everything in the office is disinfected and we sit far apart. That’s how it works quite well.”

Attorney at law Hartmut Barsch, who has two little boys at home, can also tell you a thing or two about it: “Concentration suffers a little sometimes,” he admits. “But you see the kids more often.” Attorney at law Carolin Jünemann, with whom we “met” today via video link, does not think that working from the living room is very different from everyday office life. She notes only two differences: “I like to wear my favourite T-shirt instead of a blouse and have a slightly shorter way to the coffee machine.”