Member Article

Lawyers urged to see benefits of flexible working

The legal sector is well known for its anti-social hours, inflexibility and traditional deskbound work culture. Today, new research from My Family Care, the UK’s leading provider of family-friendly employer solutions, and global recruitment experts, Hydrogen, into how flexible working is perceived amongst those who work in law firms across the UK, has found a real disconnect between the demand for flexible working and those companies who actively support it.

In fact, despite great strides in recent years to tackle flexible working, it is so rare in the legal industry that more than one in three (35%) lawyers say they would not feel comfortable even beginning the conversation about flexible working with their employer.

One of the core reasons why this could be is because of the negative stigma surrounding flexible working with almost a third (29%) of the 140 of lawyers asked, saying that the majority of their colleagues think that people who work flexibly are simply “having an easy life.” However, flexible working is so important to lawyers that over two thirds (67%) would rather choose flexible working over a 5% salary increase.

The research also found a large gender divide when it comes to flexible working. While significantly more female lawyers work part time (34% of women compared with 10% of men), female lawyers say they work considerably more than their contracted hours: 35% compared to just 28% of males. Similarly, more women believe there is a negative perception of flexible working in the workplace than men with 35% of females stating that people believe flexible workers had it easy, compared to just 13% of men.

Ben Black, Director of My Family Care says: “As a past lawyer myself, I know exactly how hard they work and the long hours involved. Of course, with client demands and so much at stake in a short period of time, lawyers have a huge responsibility to complete their tasks but firms are fast wising up to the benefits of being more accepting of flexible working practices and supporting their staff.

“It’s very interesting to see that it’s women who feel the stigma around flexible working the most. When you look at the number of women on boards, it’s clear to see why; they take maternity leave to have a baby and when they return to work they just can’t create that healthy work-life balance that enables them to excel both at work and at home – therefore forcing them to make that difficult choice; family or career. This, of course, is to the detriment of the employer who may lose someone they have invested so much time and training in when a more open-minded approach could make a whole world of difference.”

Black believes that in order to attract the very best staff in the sector, law firms need to highlight their family-friendly working benefits at interview stage. However, only a third (34%) of lawyers say they were made aware of flexible working options before they began their current job while just four in ten (41%) legal practices say they make it standard practice to discuss flexible working options with prospective employees before they join their business.

The research also pulled out some very interesting differences between private practice lawyers and in-house lawyers. Lawyers working in private practice are less likely to work remotely with 38% only working at their employer’s place of work, compared with 22% of in-house lawyers who do.

Ian Temple, CEO of Hydrogen, which specialises in recruitment in the legal sector says: “These statistics have shone a spotlight on the differences in working culture not only between in-house and private practice lawyers – but between male and female employees. In private practices in particular, it is often deemed negatively to ask for flexible working with nearly half (44%) of private practice lawyers saying they don’t feel comfortable talking to their employers about it compared with 22% of in-house lawyers which is important to consider when looking for a new role. However, our research suggests that flexible working will continue to grow and grow in popularity with many lawyers putting it as one of their top priorities when looking for a new role.”

In fact, 86% of lawyers have said they’d actively look for flexible working options before joining a new company, considerably more than any other benefits such as private healthcare insurance (40%), enhanced pension scheme (35%) or commission or bonuses (33%). 64% of lawyers argue that it will be more challenging for organisations to retain staff in the next five to 10 years if they don’t offer flexible working.

Louise Skinner, Counsel at global law firm, Allen & Overy which implements flexible working practices says: “If you want to retain women and not lose them when they choose to have children, then you have to come up with flexible solutions. I regularly work from home, and will sometimes leave the office early, but I’ll also work in the evenings when I need to. Because I’m willing to be flexible, I get that flexibility back. I treasure the time I spend at the school gates and being a hands-on mum, and feel completely immersed in my children’s lives. As long as you can make yourself available if you need to be, then you really can make it work.”

Top tips from Ian Temple at Hydrogen on how you can use flexible working to gain a competitive advantage in the legal sector:

1.Close the gap between what lawyers do right now and what they want

Our research found that 15% of legal practice organisations are exploring or trialling flexible working at the moment BUT there is still a long way to go. We found that so many lawyers want to work flexibly but can’t.

So - start small; introduce flexible working trial periods for smaller groups of staff where you can review the impact after a set period of time and can closely and more easily manage the change. Once you’ve successfully got a system or process that works in one area, it makes it much easier to introduce it to others.

2.Shout about it more!

Our research found that the vast majority of lawyers (86%!) consider flexible working options when looking for a new job, yet at the same time so few organisations talk about their flexible working practices to prospective employees. Simple changes such as outlining your practices on your website – including it in jobs specs and in adverts will help you to attract a wider pool of talent.

Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP, for example, have amended every job description to include wording around the level of flexibility they can offer in a certain role. All hiring managers have guidance for when they enter a conversation on the topic with candidates in interviews so they can use it to their best advantage.

3.Communicate better with employees

Make sure your employees are fully aware of what flexible working options are available to them. Remember that employees who work flexibly say they are more loyal, engaged and productive. In fact, our research found that 87% of employees across the board* believe that those who work flexibly are just as, if not more, productive than those who work regular hours.

Flexible working, therefore has big benefits for the organisation, as well as the employee themselves. Good communication will help improve the profile of flexible working across the organisation – therefore removing any stigma.

Claire England, Inclusivity Manager at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP says: “The legal sector is known for being traditional. We’ve found that the key to creating successful change has been regular communication; you cannot just roll out initiatives such as these and assume all will be well. We held trial periods with a number of different groups to give people the opportunity to adjust and test out how they could make it work for them and their teams.”

My Family Care and Hydrogen have created a full report entitled ‘Flexible and family friendly working: a competitive advantage for organisations. UK sector snapshot: Legal.’

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Katherine Adams .