Nominate a Partner & Client for Our 2022 Flex Success® Award!

The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance is accepting nominations for our annual Flex Success® Award. The award recognizes partners at member law firms who are successfully working a reduced hours schedule and acknowledges the crucial role clients play in making workplace flexibility a reality. The Award honors attorney/client relationships that best exemplify how, with client support, attorneys can achieve greater work-life control and have extraordinarily successful careers.

The Award will be shared by:
  1. A successful partner at an Alliance member firm who is currently working a reduced hours schedule and has done so for a year or more; AND
  2. A client, to be chosen by the partner, who has contributed to the success of the arrangement.
Nominations can be made by any Alliance member firm, legal department, or by self-nomination. All partner nominees must be from an Alliance member organization. Honorees must be able to virtually accept their awards at our annual conference on November 2, 2022. DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS JULY 22, 2022.

Nomination Form

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Manar Morales Featured on Path to Well-Being in Law Podcast

Don’t miss listening to Episode 23 of The Path to Well-Being in Law podcast featuring Alliance President & CEO, Manar Morales. Manar speaks with hosts Chris and Bree about the intersection of diversity, flexibility, and well-being.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE

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Action Step – Workplace Flexibility & Well-Being: From Balance to Boundaries

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.

Organizations have become significantly more open to workplace flexibility since the pandemic, many adopting hybrid work environments, hiring a greater number of workers in flexible locations, and embracing other forms of flexibility such as reduced hours, compressed work weeks, job sharing, flexible start-ends times, sabbaticals, and asynchronous time. Many organizations found an unexpected rise in productivity during the pandemic, leading to this change. However, along with greater productivity came greater burn-out for many employees who were working longer hours with less personal time. There were no longer boundaries between work and personal life. As organizations begin to emerge from the pandemic and develop plans for the future of work, leaders need to promote well-being by helping workers regain boundaries. Here are our recommendations:

Members: continue reading this Action Step in the Member Resource Center

To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. To learn more contact Manar Morales.

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Action Step – ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES NECESSARY IN A HYBRID ENVIRONMENT

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.

As more organizations are adopting hybrid work, they need to enhance infrastructure support to ensure success. In addition to training, mentoring, on-boarding, technology and affinity groups, organizations need to make sure to include additional management/administrative support to properly foster professional experiences in a hybrid work setting. Organizations can hire additional professionals to accomplish these responsibilities and/or designate existing employees with these responsibilities if they have the time, interest and skillset. Here are the Alliance’s recommendations on the types of roles/responsibilities needed in a hybrid environment:

Members: continue reading this Action Step in the Member Resource Center

To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. To learn more contact Manar Morales.

You Have More Influence Than You Think: How We Underestimate Our Power of Persuasion, and Why It Matters

2022 Signature Seminar

Vanessa Bohns Headshot

Featuring Vanessa Bohns, Associate Professor of Organizational Development, Cornell University

April 26, 2022 | 1:00pm – 2:00pm EST

If you’ve ever felt ineffective, invisible, or inarticulate, chances are you weren’t actually any of those things. Those feelings may instead have been the result of a lack of awareness we all seem to have for how our words, actions, and even our mere presence affect other people. Join us for a fascinating fireside chat with Dr. Vanessa Bohns about why we should stop searching to gain influence we don’t have and start recognizing and acting on the influence we don’t realize we already have.

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Action Step – TIPS FOR MANAGING & LEADING IN A HYBRID ENVIRONMENT

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.

Many organizations are reimagining their workplace and embracing hybrid work, in which employees will spend some time working in the office and some time working from home. However, in order to implement a successful hybrid work environment, organizations must set up the right infrastructure, employees need to adopt new work behaviors and skills, and managers need to lead differently. We focused a number of action steps on organizational infrastructure needed, including: Creating a Successful Onboarding and Integration Program, Building Your Training Program to Support Your Post-Pandemic Hybrid Work Environment, Maintaining Mentoring & Connection in a Hybrid Environment, and Overcoming the Myth of the Loss of 5Cs By Building the Right Flex Infrastructure. We produced an action step last month on ways individuals can set themselves up for success in a hybrid environment: Tips for Individual Success in a Hybrid Environment. Now we want to focus on ways managers can lead most effectively in a hybrid environment. Here are the Alliance’s recommendations:

Members: continue reading this Action Step in the Member Resource Center

To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. To learn more contact Manar Morales.

Preparing for a Hybrid Work Environment: Setting Up Your Employees for Success

2022 Signature Seminar

Tuesday, February 1,  1:00pm EST

Featuring Manar Morales, President & CEO, The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance.

As many organizations plan for their Return to Office, successfully navigating a hybrid workplace is critical. Join Alliance President & CEO, Manar Morales, as she walks you through the strategies and support systems that are essential to the success of your hybrid workforce.

Don’t miss this important seminar which will provide you with guidance on how to build a framework that ensures organizational accountability and support, resulting in thriving leaders and flourishing individual employees.

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Action Step – TIPS FOR INDIVIDUAL SUCCESS IN A HYBRID ENVIRONMENT

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. 

 

Many organizations are instituting a hybrid work environment post-pandemic, in which employees will spend some time working in the office and some time working from home. The pandemic has forced organizations that never considered remote work to allow for more flexibility. While hybrid work is definitely a silver lining from the pandemic, organizations will need to develop the right infrastructure and employees need to understand and implement new work behaviors in order to succeed in this new environment.

We created a number of action steps focused on ways organizations should create infrastructure in order to lead to successful hybrid work environments, including: Creating a Successful Onboarding and Integration Program, Building Your Training Program to Support Your Post-Pandemic Hybrid Work Environment, Maintaining Mentoring & Connection in a Hybrid Environment, and Overcoming the Myth of the Loss of 5Cs By Building the Right Flex Infrastructure. Now we want to focus on ways employees can take control of their careers and succeed in a hybrid work environment as the rules of engagement will be different. Here are the Alliance’s recommendations:

 

Members: continue reading this Action Step in the Member Resource Center

To read this entire Action Step become a member of the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance. To learn more contact Manar Morales.

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Spotlight – Jessamine Lee, Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.

January 2022 Spotlight on Flex

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 January 2022 Spotlight on Flex we are pleased to share insights from Jessamine Lee, Shareholder, Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.

Diversity & Flexibility Alliance: How have you made flexibility a priority and a success with your schedule? How has the firm and/or your clients contributed to this?

Jessamine Lee: Flexibility has been a key to my success at Wolf Greenfield.  After coming back to work from having my first child 11 years ago, I went on an 80% schedule. I was a junior associate at the time. I stayed on an 80-90% schedule through having my second child three years later and then becoming Counsel and a Shareholder at the firm.  During that same time, I also had a flexible arrangement in which I worked remotely twice a week.  The firm was supportive of my requests and made it possible for me to have this alternative work arrangement during a time when it was not common to do so.  I had a lot of help from my colleagues. For example, at times when my workload was too high, I was able to transfer work to other colleagues who had more bandwidth at the time.  This is a testament to Wolf Greenfield’s collegiality and culture – we work as a team.  I also set boundaries, made expectations clear to both my colleagues and clients as to when I was available, and inquired about firm and client expectations as well.  Of course, there were times when urgent projects needed to get done, but for the most part everyone was respectful of these boundaries and I was able to meet the expectations of those I worked with.