Bright Spot: Dickinson Wright’s Staff Parental Leave Policy
In an effort to inform and inspire our members and friends, we often share diversity and flexibility Bright Spots – those small or large successes that impact an organization in a positive way. We believe that important diversity and flexibility initiatives can truly impact your organization’s bottom line, recruitment and retention capabilities and employee satisfaction.
Dickinson Wright’s Staff Parental Leave Policy
BRIGHT SPOT
Detroit-based law firm, Dickinson Wright has implemented a paid parental leave policy for its staff. The new policy, implemented January 1, 2020, allows staff to take up to 12 weeks of full-paid leave to care for a newborn or newly adopted child. The policy is gender neutral and outlines new processes for off-ramping and on-ramping employees.
The Office Administrator and supervisors provide staff members with off-ramping support such as alternative schedule options, re-allocation of work and remote work opportunities. When the staff member returns from parental leave, the firm provides on-ramping benefits including a gradual return schedule, workload planning support, guidance on dealing with any implicit bias, and options for alternative schedules. The Office Administrator continues to check in with employees following a leave for up to one year to make sure that there are no concerns.
The firm has also designated a Parental Leave Coordinator who helps to manage communications between the employee, his or her supervisors, the Office Administrator, the Director of Human Resources and the firm’s Staff Parental Leave Sub-Committee of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee. The firm also offers a complimentary Employee Assistance Plan for additional resources before, during and after parental leave.
The new staff paid parental leave policy was a core initiative for the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee for 2019 and reflects the firm’s desire to continuously improve the work environment for all employees.
Bright Spot: Chapman and Cutler’s Virtual Coffee Chats
In an effort to inform and inspire our members and friends, we often share diversity and flexibility Bright Spots – those small or large successes that impact an organization in a positive way. We believe that important diversity and flexibility initiatives can truly impact your organization’s bottom line, recruitment and retention capabilities and employee satisfaction.
BRIGHT SPOT – Chapman and Cutler – Virtual Coffee Chats
During the COVID -19 pandemic, many professionals have voiced concerns about the lack of “water cooler moments” with everyone working from home. In particular, some new Associates have found it difficult to network and find firm mentors while working remotely. The Talent Development office at law firm, Chapman and Cutler, came up with a creative, yet simple, solution to this new challenge. By creating a system for Virtual Coffee Chats, Chapman has been able to connect younger Associates with more senior colleagues for casual networking coffees.
The goal of the system was to make it easy for senior Partners to connect with First Year and Summer Associates for a 20-30 minute one-on-one Zoom call. The Zoom scheduling links were created to automatically schedule the coffees and add them to individual calendars. Therefore, no one was overburdened with scheduling the calls and the time commitment was minimal.
As an added incentive the Talent Development Office sent specialty coffees and teas – all provided by black or minority-owned businesses – to encourage participants and create a fun environment. This small incentive provided a very positive impact to firm culture.
IMPACT
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and many Partners and Associates plan to continue these virtual coffees long after the pandemic. Associates have really enjoyed meeting the Senior Partners and learning about best practices and new client projects.