Knowing the difference between micromanagement and guidance
June has been a revealing month for the legal profession and a reminder that for some businesses, a Hover audit is long overdue. While the story I’m about to share is rooted in law, its lessons are universal for anyone leading a team remotely or placing trust in locums, freelancers, or new starters.
This isn’t just a tale about a dishonest solicitor. It’s looking at ethical oversight in remote work situations. It’s a wake-up call for any business founder relying on trust without structure. Especially in remote or hybrid setups, blurred boundaries and unclear expectations can quietly undo the very culture you’re trying to curate.
The Background
For context: qualifying as a solicitor in England and Wales is no small feat. It requires passing a series of demanding exams, gaining hands on practical experience in the field (a training contract) and then completing a final professional code of conduct course (which includes ethics), along with securing a personal character reference from someone already practising. Only then is an individual officially entered onto the Roll of Solicitors.
Once qualified, the solicitor enters what’s known as the ‘NQ’ (newly qualified) stage, which lasts up to five years. During this time, they’re expected to adhere not only to the letter of the law but also to the spirit of ethical practice.
Solicitor B was called to the roll in 2020, just as lockdowns made remote working the norm. Within quick succession, she secured roles in private practice, including:
- A permanent, full-time position at a law firm
- Two separate full-time locum contracts via employment agencies
- All conducted remotely.
- All, it seemed, operating in silos.
Strengthen Oversight Without Micromanaging Start with Hover
When oversight is inconsistent, culture erodes and risk creeps in unnoticed.
Hover is CAS Ltd’s structured service that goes beyond surface-level audits. It pinpoints where policies are silent, where onboarding falls short, and how gaps in ethical oversight open your business up to risk.
Here’s what a Hover review can offer:
- A line-by-line look at how your onboarding practices play out
- Clearer delegation practices through embedded documentation and role expectations
- Ethical data management practices that reduce GDPR risks and reputational harm
- A practical reset on how policies and people interact, especially in hybrid or remote teams
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The Facts
The alarm bells rang when an HR professional at one of the firms queried Solicitor B’s timesheet and contacted the firm’s employment agency. The agency’s records revealed Solicitor B was on their books and actively placed, just not with that firm.
It soon came to light that Solicitor B had been submitting duplicate timesheets, billing for the same hours on the same days to two different firms, while continuing to draw a full salary from the permanent post.
After nearly five years, the case reached the Solicitors Regulation Authority Tribunal. She was found to have acted dishonestly and was struck off the roll.
A career is abruptly ended by the ignorance or arrogance of the individual and ethical oversight in remote work. However, we’re here to focus on the other failings of the businesses, neglecting to enforce their own internal checks and balances.
The Policy Gaps That Enabled It
The headline might be about one solicitor’s dishonesty, but the subtext is louder: this was a system-wide failure of policies, procedures, and practice. It raises so many important questions that all business founders keen to build the right SME leadership culture will want to be cautious about.
What does this say about:
- How new staff are onboarded?
- What expectations are set and how they’re reinforced?
- How remote or freelance staff are monitored without overstepping into micromanagement?
- Whether any ethical oversight is actually embedded or merely assumed?
Let’s dig into those missing pieces.
Strong Policies Need Active Leadership
Remote or hybrid working isn’t a shortcut to freedom; it’s a shift in responsibility. Oversight isn’t optional. It’s the ethical glue that holds culture and operations together.
If you’ve been relying on trust alone or assuming policies are “clear enough,” this is your sign to revisit what you’ve built.
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GDPR: Do the Ends Justify the Means?
It’s worth noting a quiet sideline to this case. In the process of investigating the timesheets, the HR professional obtained confirmation from the agency that the solicitor was on another placement, along with admitted continued exchanges.
This raises concerns about GDPR compliance in the workplace when data is shared. Is the right intent an excuse for a data breach?
While the HR person may have felt justified and the outcome validated suspicions, data protection law doesn’t work on gut instinct. The solicitor wasn’t placed with the firm enquiring; therefore, that information arguably shouldn’t have been disclosed to the HR professional at all. The agency could have and possibly should have reported it to the SRA directly.
Even though the right outcome was reached, it doesn’t justify sidestepping proper channels. If a breach occurred, it’s not merely an issue of GDPR compliance in the workplace. It’s a cultural one. One that shows how policy, when misapplied, can be as risky as having none at all. Take this as a reminder that policies aren’t just internal housekeeping. They’re legally binding responsibilities that must be followed, even when our curiosity or suspicions feel justified.
The Ethical Takeaway: Monitor With Meaning
Policies are only ever as good as their enforcement.
It’s no longer enough to hand someone a document, tick a box, and hope for the best. Particularly in hybrid or remote setups, the temptation to ‘trust until proven otherwise’ can be risky, not just financially, but reputationally. Remote onboarding policies have to be a serious action to take in any business.
Imagine if Solicitor B had been offered regular, structured support, not only because she was new to the firm but because she was newly qualified. A simple weekly 1-2-1, even just 20 minutes, would have provided the space to raise concerns, offer guidance and build trust. With that connection, perhaps she would’ve confided openly about needing more experience or managing financial strain.
That’s not being overbearing, it’s investing in people and protecting the business. The SME leadership culture can introduce such practices and proper remote onboarding policies when the planning is put in place.
So, what should founders and business owners learn here?
Remote isn’t invisible. If your policies are only designed for in-office teams, you need to evolve quickly. Monitoring isn’t micromanagement. It’s a form of ethical oversight. Think check-ins, not checkpoints.
Onboarding is a critical first line of defence. Ethics isn’t just something you hope people bring with them; it’s something you embed from day one because what’s meaningful to one is superficial to another. Policies are what bridge the gap.
When in doubt, follow the process. That includes how you handle data, how you raise concerns, and how you escalate matters to regulators, not via informal conversations, emails or hearsay.
The Ethical Takeaway: Monitor With Meaning
The firms in this case likely had policies on conduct, working hours, and ethical expectations. What they lacked was the commitment to apply them, check that they were working, and enforce them when necessary.
This shouldn’t be viewed as micromanagement vs guidance. Ethical businesses don’t rely on individual virtue. They build systems that support the right actions and catch the wrong ones, not five years down the line, but right at the start. Culture isn’t what you say, it’s what your systems do. Make sure you can tell the difference between trust and ethical oversight in remote work situations.
