Action Step – Paid Leave Policies: Five Common Mistakes Can Lead to Attrition and Liability

The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility.  Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.

PAID LEAVE POLICIES: FIVE COMMON MISTAKES CAN LEAD TO ATTRITION AND LIABILITY

Having a generous paid leave policy for lawyers can be a great recruiting and retention tool. Legal employers commonly provide at least 12 weeks, and sometimes 18 or more weeks, of paid maternity leave. Unfortunately, these legal employers often make mistakes that undermine the usefulness of their leave policies and could even expose them to liability.

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The First Step to Ensuring Your Flex Success™ – Define Your Success

This is the first of a series of seven blog posts featuring advice on our Seven Strategies for Flex Success™. Check back as we walk you through the seven steps that will guarantee your success while working flexibly: Define Your Success; Own Your Value; Activate Your Mindset; Create A Strong Personal Brand; Build Your Networks; Expand Your Ideas on Business Development; and Enhance Your Work-Life Control.

seven-strategies-for-flex-successOnce you’ve decided that a flexible schedule is right for you, you need to be able to envision your future plans. As you define your successful, flexible career path you should clearly map out your one, three, and five-year vision. That vision should include what you want personally and professionally and how the two can mesh to define success on your own terms.

Once you are clear on your own goals you can begin to envision your long and short-term plans for your career, your lifestyle, and your family. You’ll also need to think through potential opportunities and obstacles and clearly map out financial and professional development needs. Do you want to be home with your children for an extended leave? Can you afford to work part-time? Do you want to take a sabbatical? Do you have childcare options? Your flexible work plan can then be mapped out to support your aspirations. You’ll be much better able to negotiate the needs of your firm once you have a clear sense of your personal needs.

Over the years we’ve asked countless professionals working flexible schedules about their initial planning stages. Here are some of their words of wisdom… Read more

Are You Managing Your Team Effectively?

If you’re a manager, you know that it’s not always easy to successfully manage your team and cultivate effective time management skills. It’s often challenging to establish a strong foundation to motivate your team to deliver top-quality work. According to Paul Burton, time management expert and Founder & Principal of QuietSpacing LLC, there are four key elements to successfully managing a team: Consideration, Collaboration, Communication and Coordination.

Join Paul at 3:00pm EST on Monday, September 19 as he leads our bi-monthly Signature Seminar entitled “Orchestrate: Four Productivity Skills Every Manager Needs.” Paul’s webinar is open to all Alliance members and will provide immediate, actionable tips for mid-level managers on how to:

– Find the correlation between goals and how things get done;

– Effectively connect and engage those with whom you work;

– Diplomatically manage up and manage down; and

– Navigate the important landscape of middle management. Read more

Orchestrate: Four Productivity Skills Every Manager Needs

September 2016

Featuring — Paul H. Burton, Founder & Principal, QuietSpacing LLC

Managing cases, deals, and other people are vital skills mid-level people must develop. Yet, there are scant legal-focused resources available to help them build that skill set. Productive managers focus the right people on the right efforts to deliver top-quality work to clients in a timely manner. Mid-level managers can repeatedly achieve that result if a strong foundation is established first. Join us for September’s Signature Seminar with Paul Burton as he provides immediate, actionable suggestions around these four quadrants – consideration, collaboration, communication, and coordination – so anyone can orchestrate and control their time management skills. Participants will learn to: see the connection between larger goals and how things get done; effectively connect and engage those with whom you work; diplomatically manage up and manage down; and navigate the important landscape of middle management.

Spotlight on Flex – Erik Lemmon

The Spotlight on Flex showcases professionals from member organizations who exemplify personal and professional success while working a flexible schedule. Their stories illustrate the long-term benefits that flexible schedules offer to both individuals and organizations.

This month, we are pleased to share insights from Erik Lemmon, Associate in the Denver office of Holland & Hart LLP.

Erik LemmonDiversity & Flexibility Alliance: How have you made flexibility a priority and a success through your schedule?

Erik Lemmon: After college I attended the US Navy’s Officer Candidate School to train to be a pilot. Although I really loved being in the Navy and serving my country, I wasn’t passionate about the flying, especially given the months away from home the job entailed. I transferred to the Reserves on active duty to complete my commitment and started law school in 2005. I summered at Holland & Hart in 2007, and I started as a first year associate in the fall of 2008 in the Denver office.

My wife, a child clinical psychologist with a busy practice, and I moved to Arizona for her clinical internship in early 2010 after we had our first child. I switched firms when we moved, but we returned to Colorado and Holland & Hart in 2011. In 2013, we had our second child, and I knew something had to give. With a four year old daughter and newborn at home, I wanted to be involved at work, but I wanted to be a fully involved parent as well. If I wasn’t going to miss being an integral part of my family to be a pilot for the Navy, then I certainly wasn’t going to miss it to be a full time lawyer.

At first I didn’t think about the firm’s flex time program; I was looking at smaller firms and exploring in-house opportunities. I talked to a friend at the firm, and she suggested staying at Holland and working reduced hours. After speaking with the firm’s flex coordinator, I went to an 80 percent schedule. Looking back, I can’t believe I didn’t think about this option right away, and when I talk to male and female associates, I highly encourage them to explore flex as an option for their own careers. The firm is incredibly supportive and has a true-up policy; I’m compensated for any work above my agreed upon hours plus receive a bonus for exceeding them.

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Action Step – Seven Strategies for Managing Remote Teams

The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility.  Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.

SEVEN STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING REMOTE TEAMS

Whether it’s full-time, remote work, to occasional telecommuting due to weather or other events that keeps someone from coming into the office, working remotely is becoming the norm. If you are supervising others in the knowledge-based workplace, chances are you are leading or will soon lead a team of individuals working remotely in some fashion. While good management and leadership skills apply regardless of how and where your team is physically working, here are some additional strategies that leaders need to employ to successfully manage remote teams…

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Just A Couple More Weeks To Take Advantage of Our Flex Benchmarking Survey

Our Third Annual Law Firm Flexibility Benchmarking Survey will remain open until September 12, 2016 September 27, 2016 (DEADLINE EXTENDED). We strongly encourage all major U.S. law firms, including Alliance members and non-members, to take advantage of this unique opportunity to track the availability, usage, and support for flexible work options.

There is No Downside to Participating

Remember, our survey is unique in the sense that no firms are named (or shamed!) and we will not produce a ranked list. All responses are kept confidential and the final results report will only include aggregate data. We simply want law firms to examine their holistic flexible work usage including reduced hours schedules, telecommuting, flexible start/end times, annualized hours, and job sharing by attorney position, gender, race, and sexual orientation. Our goal is to help improve firms’ flex policies and help to change the culture of flex in the industry as a whole.

Process of Participating Yields Huge Benefits

Many firms find that by participating in our survey, they can take stock of their flexible work options, their employees’ usage, and how they can improve their policies. As we all know, flexible work options are very important to today’s law school graduates and are key to all firms’ recruitment and retention strategies. Read more

Looking for Career Support, Professional Development, and Camaraderie? Consider Forming an Affinity Group

Attorneys and other professionals who work flexible schedules can experience a sense of isolation from their co-workers that can come from limited face-to-face meetings as well as a decrease in hours. Affinity groups – groups that bring together those with shared identities, interests, and experiences – can help prevent this isolation and lead to increased career advancement and satisfaction.

In fact, Affinity groups can be created around any underrepresented group of individuals such as members of the LGBT community, members of a particular race or ethnicity or those working flexible schedules, but have most commonly been created for women in law firms. Creating an Affinity Group is an excellent way to build community and provide employees with a support system of others who share similar identities or experiences. Read more

Loeb & Loeb LLP Welcomed As Newest Member of the Alliance

We are pleased to welcome Loeb & Loeb LLP as the newest member of the Alliance! The firm joins a community of over 55 leading organizations that are implementing innovative solutions to promote inclusive and flexible work cultures.

Loeb & Loeb

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Major Law Firms Urged to Participate in Flexibility Benchmarking Survey

Flexible Work Key to Meeting Needs of Future Employees & Evolution of Legal Industry

WASHINGTON, DC, July 28, 2016 — The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance is urging all major U.S. law firms to participate in its third annual Law Firm Flexibility Benchmarking Survey, which is open for participation through September 12, 2016. The survey provides major U.S. law firms with the opportunity to track the availability, usage, and support of their flexible work programs. A touchstone on the current state of flexibility in the industry, this survey has the market distinction of examining holistic flexible work usage including reduced hours schedules, telecommuting, flexible start/end times, annualized hours and/or job sharing by attorney position, gender, race, and sexual orientation in a way that protects the confidentiality of participants and does not result in a ranked list.

“Law firms that participate in our survey will receive invaluable information and insights into the effectiveness of their flexible work policies, the biases that may be present in their firm and how they stack up against the rest of the industry,” said Manar Morales, President and CEO of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. “Since flexibility is an important talent recruitment and retention tool, firms must evolve and seriously consider whether their flexible work policies are meeting the needs of their current and future employees,” she added.

All survey participants will receive the full 2016 Law Firm Flexibility Benchmarking Survey Report, featuring findings from the aggregated survey results. The Executive Summary for the 2015 Law Firm Flexibility Benchmarking Survey Report is available on the Research page of the Alliance’s website. All responses are kept confidential and the report will only include aggregate data. Individualized benchmarking reports, which include customized recommendations, are available for purchase by participant firms.

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