Our 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.

For our September Spotlight on Flex, we’re pleased to highlight Colleen Haas, Partner, Frost Brown Todd (Cincinnati, OH)

September 2020 Spotlight on Flex

Diversity & Flexibility Alliance: How have you made flexibility a priority and a success with your schedule?

Colleen Haas: It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been at the firm for over 20 years. I started here during my 2L summer internship and then as a first year associate right after graduation from Notre Dame Law School in 1997. After I had my first child, I reduced my hours to 90% of my original billable hour requirement but still came into the office five days a week. When I had my second child three years later, I reduced my billable goal a little more and changed my schedule slightly by coming into the office four days a week and working one day remotely.

My flexibility manifests in the form of a reduced hours schedule that is annualized to compliment my husband’s work schedule. He is a scout for a major league baseball team and his consistent “crunch time” each year, with extensive work and travel, is during the spring and summer. However, during the fall and winter months, he has much more flexibility. Knowing this, when I first approached the firm about reducing my hours, I asked for a schedule where I could work four days in the office and one day from home, but only for six months of the year. I would then go back to five days per week in the office for the other six months to ramp up my hours during my busy year end. As a transactional attorney, I knew I needed to maximize both mine and my husband’s schedules in a way that would work for our family and the changing seasons.

As you progress through your career, your goals and needs change. There was a short period of time when I took myself off the partner track and went to counsel because I thought that would fit my family needs better. I had three young kids at home and between juggling their activities, my work commitments, and my husband’s travel schedule, I didn’t want the extra pressure. My “aha” moment was, however, when other partners were telling me that I should be on the partner track because I was already doing everything they were. They believed in me and didn’t see reduced hours as a roadblock to partnership. With that encouragement from my peers, I switched back to the partner track and was promoted to the partner class very soon thereafter.

I would set my yearly billable hours and stick with that number no matter what reduced hours percentage I was working at the time. This is how I approached flexible work as an associate, and it’s how I approach it at the partner level now too. Once my third child entered kindergarten, I ramped back up to being in the office five days a week but leaving early when I needed to for any commitments. You get to a point where you’ve earned the respect and trust of your colleagues; they know your work ethic, your work quality, and that you’ll provide top notch client service.

Read more

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

Before the pandemic, organizations offered very different flexible work benefits based on employee status, responsibilities, and seniority. According to our 2019 Law Firm Flexibility Benchmarking Study, almost half of the firms indicated there was no formal flexible work policy for staff whereas nearly all firms (90%) offered formal flexible work policies for attorneys. During the pandemic, organizations have continued to offer disparate benefits for employees as demonstrated by our Pulse Poll: COVID-19 & Reentry Study; nearly 30% of respondents will determine whether to allow remote work based on an employees’ function.

Our recommendation has always been for organizations to close the gap between employees with respect to flexible work benefits. This is especially true during the pandemic, where everyone is facing exceptional personal and professional stress. During this time, it’s imperative for organizations to offer holistic flex to all employees in order to promote employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention. Holistic flex reflects the myriad of reasons today’s professionals want and need flexible work and includes both reduced hours and full-time options such as: telecommuting, flexible start/end times, compressed work schedules, and annualized hours.

Continue Reading in the Member Resource Center

To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. To further discuss ways to offer holistic flexible working options to all employees, contact Manar Morales

While our annual conference is going virtual this year, one thing that hasn’t changed is our commitment to bringing an incredible line-up of inspirational speakers to share their expertise and unique insights. Over the next couple of months we’ll be introducing you to these dynamic and engaging leaders by sharing some of their personal and career advice. Join us for our 2020 Annual Conference, Moments of Impact: Transforming Organizational Culture on November 5 to learn more from these remarkable trailblazers!

Today, we are honored to introduce Garry Ridge, Chairman & CEO, WD-40 Company and this year’s keynote speaker.  In his presentation “It’s All About the People – Don’t Be a Soul Sucking CEO,” Garry will provide a look “under the hood” of one of the world’s most recognized brands, where employee engagement is above 93% and 98% say they “love to work at WD-40 Company.”  He’ll share his unique insights into the value of the emotional connection to a greater purpose, the importance of investing in people who invest in themselves, and the difference between a “team” and a “tribe.”

 

Diversity & Flexibility Alliance: What was the most meaningful piece of leadership advice you have received?
Garry Ridge: It’s not about you.

 

DFA: Who has had the most influence on your career?
GR: Ken Blanchard

 

DFA: What have you learned during COVID that has changed your perspective?
GR: In times of great and real need, people can pivot around fear.

 

DFA: How do you pay it forward?
GR: By sharing my “learning moments” – being a giver not a taker.

 

DFA: What can we be doing to create more inclusive organizations?
GR: Listen, be vulnerable, be mindful, and forgive everyone for being human.

 

DFA: What book is on your nightstand?

GR: Why Are We Yelling: The Art of Productive Disagreement by Buster Benson

 

Don’t miss your opportunity to hear more from Garry Ridge and all of our dynamic and inspirational speakers on November 5.  Register today.

While our annual conference is going virtual this year, one thing that hasn’t changed is our commitment to bringing an incredible line-up of inspirational speakers to share their expertise and unique insights. Over the next couple of months we’ll be introducing you to these dynamic and engaging leaders by sharing some of their personal and career advice.  Join us for our 2020 Annual Conference: Moments of Impact: Transforming Organizational Culture on November 5 to learn more  from these remarkable trailblazers.

We are honored to introduce Minda Harts, CEO of The Memo LLC and Author of The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table.

Minda HartsWhat was the most meaningful piece of leadership advice you have received? Who has had the most influence on your career?

The most meaningful advice I’ve received is don’t be ambivalent about your career.  There hasn’t been just one person, but it’s been a collective effort of family, friends, and peers. Success is not a solo sport!

What have you learned during COVID that has changed your perspective?”

Carpe diem. The world is changing and I had to decide if I was going to evolve as well. Sometimes change can be good, yet necessary. 

How do you recharge? Where and when are you most content?

I love to read physical books. I try and wake up a little earlier each day so I can read a little bit before I get my day started; it helps center me. Currently, I have learned to be content wherever I am, and right now that is my house. 

What do you know now that you wish you knew then?

I am my best advocate. No one is ever going to advocate for you like you.

How do you pay it forward?

By creating career resources for women of color in the workplace. 

What can we be doing to create more inclusive organizations?

Listen, Educate, and Activate. Leaders must learn to tap into their emotional intelligence and unlearn what might have been comfortable and contributing to systems that are only beneficial to the dominant majority. 

How has flexibility impacted your life?

It’s allowed me to be flexible. There are no rules right now and I get to redefine success for myself. 

What book is on your nightstand?

Begin Again, by Eddie Glaude Jr. 

 

Register for the conference today.

Congratulations to all the law firms named to Working Mother Media’s 2020 Best Law Firms for Women List.  These firms are being recognized for their “efforts and successes in finding, retaining and promoting women lawyers” and we commend their commitment to gender parity.

The Best Law Firms for Women List has been published for the last thirteen years.  Law firms are asked to complete an application including more than 300 questions about attorney demographics at different levels, schedule flexibility, paid time off and parental leaves, and development and retention of women.

We are particularly proud to congratulate the following Diversity & Flexibility Alliance members named to the 2020 List:

  1. Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
  2. Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
  3. Cooley
  4. Crowell & Moring
  5. Davis Wright Tremaine
  6. Dechert
  7. DLA Piper
  8. Dorsey & Whitney
  9. Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
  10. Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner
  11. Fish & Richardson
  12. Jackson Lewis P.C.
  13. Katten
  14. Latham & Watkins
  15. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
  16. Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart
  17. O’Melveny & Myers
  18. Perkins Coie
  19. Quarles & Brady
  20. Reed Smith
  21. Seyfarth Shaw
  22. Sidley Austin
  23. Wiley

Tuesday, September 22, 2020 – 1:00 – 2:15 pm EST

Featuring – Rachael Bosch, Founder of Fringe Professional Development

There has been a lot of talk about civility in the news over the past few years but there are still so many misconceptions about what civility means and why you should engage in it. In this webinar, we will discuss the research behind civility both inside and out of the legal industry. We will share the documented impacts of civility and psychological safety in teams and organizations. You will also hear the latest insights into how organizations are using civility in their cultural and leadership development plans.

After spending more than a decade in legal talent management, Rachael Bosch founded Fringe Professional Development with the goal of helping people communicate better at work. Fringe is a training and coaching company that combines neuroscience-based learning techniques with customized and progressive programming. Our mission is to help ambitious, high-achieving professionals excel in their careers through improved communication skills. Rachael holds a brain-based coaching certification through the NeuroLeadership Institute as well as certificates of Women in Leadership and Mediating Disputes from Cornell University and Harvard Law School. She is an active member of the invitation-only Forbes Coaches Council and is certified to train and deliver both the DISC behavioral assessment and the EQi 2.0© emotional intelligence index.