Spotlight on Flex – Alan Bryan

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 Alan Bryan, Senior Associate General Counsel for Legal Operations & Outside Counsel Management, Walmart Stores (Bentonville, AR).

Alan BryanDiversity & Flexibility Alliance: How have you made flexibility a priority and a success through your career? How has Walmart supported this?

Alan Bryan:  I started at what was then Arkansas’s largest law firm as a general litigator where I was eventually made partner. I got engaged about eight years into my career and explored transferring to my firm’s Fayetteville’s office since my fiancée (now wife) was originally from there. I eventually relocated, and that move also caused me to reflect on where I was going in my career.

Even when I made partner, I realized my next chance for leadership at the firm (chairing a committee or being a section leader) was a long way off. I knew what I really wanted was to lead and influence people, and I had to think about what my long term options were. The firm, among other things, did not offer leadership opportunities for junior partners. Even in law school, I had always been interested in working in-house, and Fayetteville is roughly 25 miles south of Bentonville (where Walmart is headquartered). An opportunity presented itself, and I started working at Walmart managing litigation in July 2011. In May 2013, I was asked to lead all of the company’s outside law firms. Since then, I’ve also taken on the role of managing several of the legal department’s initiatives for its Legal Operations group.

In terms of flexibility, many organizations have what’s stated, but that doesn’t always correlate to the reality of what’s expected – time is finite, and time is money. That was certainly the case at my law firm – what was said wasn’t always what happened. I knew Walmart fully supported flexibility and the idea that you can manage how and where you work at the same time.   You have to find a place where you can secure what you want and get to where you want to be on your own terms.

My wife is a neo-natal intensive care nurse and primarily works the night shift. We had our first child within the first year I started at Walmart and our second child a year and a half later. The company understands I’m the only available caregiver in the mornings, and sometimes I have to shift when I arrive into the office to accommodate my kids’ schedules.

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Action Step – Easing the Transition From Leave to Work, Part 1

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. 

On-ramping policies, also known as gradual return to work from leave policies, continue to serve as a low-cost, high-value bridge between leaves of absence and flexible work. They are simple to implement, effective as a pilot for reduced hours work arrangements, and have a positive impact on retention at a pivotal time in the careers of many professionals. Our Action Step, Tips for Starting an On-Ramping Policy describes how organizations can reap these and other benefits of on-ramping with a well-designed policy. Here, the Alliance builds on these tips to share recent developments and additional best practices in on-ramping in this two-part Action Step series.

As evidence of the value of on-ramping, a growing number of law firms, for example — including some Alliance members — have bolstered their policies to provide full-time pay to individuals on a temporary reduced hours schedule upon return from leave. In addition to a desire to increase on-ramping’s retention benefits, these firms recognize there is a natural ramp-up period when professionals return from an extended leave of absence, and historically, professionals have been paid full-time during that period in the absence of on-ramping policies…

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Saul Ewing LLP Welcomed As Newest Member of the Alliance

We are pleased to welcome Saul Ewing LLP as the newest member of the Alliance! The firm joins a community of over 60 leading organizations that are implementing innovative solutions to promote inclusive and flexible work cultures.

 

 

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Is Your Flex Policy Equal Opportunity?

We talk frequently about the myriad benefits of having a flexible work policy. It can be a win-win situation when individuals gain work-life control, clients maintain team consistency, and organizations reduce attrition and thereby retain top talent and reduce recruitment and training costs. Recruiters have traditionally tried to entice prospective employees with promises of flex schedules and family-life balance. It’s always been an assumption that women want flexible work schedules so they can maintain their career while also having and raising children.

 

What About Men?

However, in 2017, millennials are becoming new parents and more men are expecting flexible work schedules and paternity leave to have more work-life control and to spend more time with their children. In fact, according to the Families and Work Institute, millennial fathers are now spending twice as many hours per week with their children as their fathers spent with them in the late 70s and early 80s. Research from the Minority Corporate Counsel Association shows that even those millennials who are not parents cite flexibility as a critical factor in workplace satisfaction.

 

It’s important to remember that while it is the millennials who have made flexible schedules more of a demand, all generations of men want flexible work schedules like reduced hours and telecommuting. A study by Ernst & Young showed that, in fact, “Gen Xers” are the generation of men most likely to walk away from a job where flexibility is not available. The Harvard Business Review has also reported that 87% of Baby Boomer men believe work flexibility is important.

 

It’s increasingly clear that firms and corporations with strong, non-stigmatized, non-gender-specific, flexible work policies will be the most successful at recruiting top talent – both men and women.  Recently Alliance member, Winston & Strawn, erased all reference to gender in its parental leave policy, allowing both men and women to take 20 weeks of leave after having or adopting a baby. (Bravo Winston!)

 

Moving forward, firms and corporations aiming to recruit top talent will need to use their flexible work policies as a recruitment tool for both men and women. This will not only reduce gender bias related to flex schedules but will also send the message that the organization cares about and invests equally in its employees, regardless of gender.

 

Contact us  for more information about how flexible work policies can help your organization attract and retain top talent.

 

We are here to help!