Open House features range of discussion areas including wellbeing, hobbies and kidzone
Eversheds Sutherland has rolled out a new app that aims to combat loneliness among its home-working lawyers and staff during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The international player has this week launched Open House, a multi-chatroom mobile phone app where its staff can talk informally and share ideas on a range of non-work related topics.
The app — which forms part of its wider wellbeing programme, and is led by managing partner Keith Froud — features six distinct chat areas, with more expected in the coming weeks. They are: wellbeing, remote working, clubs, hobbies, helping others, kidzone, and just for fun.
Eversheds says Open House is available through the firm’s dedicated app store and supplements its teams’ existing WhatsApp and email groups for staying in touch, particularly at a time when home-workers can feel disconnected from their colleagues.
The outfit confirmed it was already looking to improve the app, with the introduction of notifications when additional comments are made on a thread, and the ability, much like Twitter, to @mention somebody to bring them in to the conversation.
The launch of Eversheds’ new app comes just weeks after we revealed Taylor Wessing was opening up its subscription to a meditation app to future trainees. Headspace, a meditation and mindfulness app promoting mental health, was previously only available to the firm’s current employees.
At the same time, the City outfit said it was looking to introduce a range of further initiatives to support its staff working from home during the pandemic, including virtual yoga, mindfulness sessions and choir practice over Skype.
