According to a study on behalf of City law firm Addleshaw Goddard, the culture of working long hours is prompting a legal profession talent drain.
The study, carried out among 13 top law firms, has found that an element of suspicion still clings to the concept of remote working, and even to those employees keen to find work-life balance. And it looks as if the declining economic climate will further damage the efforts of those who have worked to introduce flexibility into the profession. Law firms look set to tighten their belts and become even less willing to allow part-time or home-working - and this means that the number of women working in City legal roles will continue to drop.
The authors of the study call for more team-working, and a move away from the traditional partners-centric working habits. They also encourage 'output not input' and less emphasis on actually being in the office.
It seems particularly unfortunate for those lawyers who have fought long and hard for the working rights that so many of us take for granted, only to have them withdrawn at the first sign of an economic blip.
Comments (1)
Posted by Edward Fisher | October 14, 2008 4:26 PM
Sadly the legal profession is generally not sensitive to the notion of personal time. Although there are some roles that allow for more traditional working hours these are often not the ones that will ensure a cash deposit on a villa in Bordeaux.
By way of anecdote I know a couple who both traded in their positions at top firms for saner working hours. They were seeing each other for a couple of hours each week and were left with the choice of preserving their marriage or progressing their career. A rather difficult decision - for some
Of course the cyclical affect is that the talent drain and economic climate will only apply greater pressure to those that choose to hold on their positions and continue the fight for a more flexible approach to working hours.
Unfortunately, as you say, it will be women who are affected the most, particularly those that aren't willing to trade their families in for villas just yet.
Having come from a background in training there is the temptation to offer employees time management training. Of course this would not be effective as it is the management in these firms who really need to re-evaluate and explore the real meaning of the word 'sustainability.
Posted on October 14, 2008 16:26