James's blog: Reassessing

Reading recent blog posts, it seems that many WorkLife Central are viewing the new year as an opportunity to reassess their current working arrangements as part of the continued search for their preferred work/life balance.  I am no different, and have recently accepted an opportunity to move to another law firm which, I am hopeful, offers a more sustainable approach to flexible working.

There are about 40 lawyers in the team I currently work in, and my resignation coincided with the resignations of three other lawyers in my team.  Looking at the circumstances of our resignations, clear similarities can be seen.  Each of us has previously tried, and struggled with, flexible working arrangements at our current employer.  Each of us has childcare responsibilities during the week.  And each of us has become disillusioned with how unsustainable the juggling act has become.

So, as I head towards a new role, I thought I would share my observations on what I think some of the key ingredients are to making flexible working arrangements successful:

1. It’s all about the team.  You need to surround yourself with talented people who buy in to the benefits of flexible working.  You need junior lawyers who rise to the challenge of taking on additional responsibilities and are able to keep things ticking over while you’re out of the office.  And you need partners who are willing to step in if things need a guiding hand while you’re out of contact.
2. Deadlines need to be managed carefully.  Again, this becomes something of a team effort.  Individually, you need to be completely prepared for the deadlines you know about.  But you also need others in the team to refrain from committing you to deadlines without checking with you.  And you also need them to manage their own time to take account of your availability.  A good PA to help manage your diary is a must!
3. If you are going to work part-time, you need to be given less work.  I regularly find myself working long hours Monday to Thursday on chargeable work.  This leads to me hitting the target hours for a full-time fee earner.  It does, however, mean that many of the other responsibilities attached to my roll, such as training, know-how, business development, get squeezed.  I catch up with what I can at the weekends, but it does lead to you falling into the trap of doing 100% of the work for 80% of the pay.
4. Flexibility has to work both ways.  I fully accept that there are occasions when work needs doing during my non-working day.  And so when the need does arise, I try to make sure that arrangements are made to enable me to be in the office.  That way not only can others can see that I am willing to make myself available when required, but it is also much more efficient than trying to juggle things at home with a little one under my feet.  In return, however, it needs to be accepted that this should be the exception, rather than the norm, and that it might not be possible to make the necessary alternative arrangements when the requirement is sprung on you at the last minute.
5. You need a support system at home.  My part-time working arrangements would not be possible if my wife didn’t have a lot of flexibility in her role.  Even with that flexibility, however, we have been reliant on our parents being willing to do a round trip of a few hundred miles, pretty much at the drop of a hat, to come down to London and help out with the childcare.  Again, it’s all about the team...

James is in his early 30s and father to a beautiful two year old girl.  He now works four days a week at a City law firm, spending the fifth day of the week colouring, playing dolls with, and looking after, his daughter.