Law firm Eversheds has launched a flexible working initiative, to improve
work-life balance and attract recruits in the competitive legal jobs market.
The scheme covers all 3,700 staff, including partners in Eversheds’ UK
offices, and gives them more freedom to balance their work and home lives.
The ‘Lifestyle’ programme allows staff to benefit from a wide variety of
flexible arrangements including annualised hours, career breaks, part-time,
remote and shift working.
HR director Caroline Wilson is confident the initiative will have a
significant impact on working practices without damaging the standard of
service offered to customers.
"This is the first scheme of its kind to be open to all staff,
including partners. Lifestyle is about communicating to all employees that
everyone can benefit from working in a different way and that Eversheds is
committed to ensuring a good work-life balance," she said.
The scheme has been set up to accommodate the needs of individual employees
or can be tailored to the working patterns of entire teams.
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All managers were trained in advance of the launch and Wilson hopes the
scheme will improve performance by increasing staff motivation.
"We are confident that pursuing flexibility sends out the right
messages to our clients and in turn will improve our relationships. Empowering
employees to find the right working solution for them can only improve the
service," she said.
