Today is Work Your Proper Hours Day
Apparently over 5 million people work more than their contracted hours and, according to the TUC, senior managers (such as senior civil servants and company directors) would be paid on average an extra £24,000 per year if they were paid for the extra hours they put in.
I wonder what would the results would have looked like if the survey had been conducted solely in the City? In particular, within the larger City Law Firms?
Long hours is part of the culture, isn't it? Surely it's the people who are first to arrive and last to leave that get noticed, hit their billable hours targets and ultimately get promoted. If you want to be a partner, you put the hours in.
But it's not just work/life balance that gets sacrificed. In order to perform at your best, your mind needs rest. Just as an over-trained muscle will eventually shut down, an over-trained mind can become fuzzy and a tired, fuzzy mind can lead to mistakes, irritability and occasionally aggressive behaviour or bullying.
"If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen".
To a certain extent this has been true. The top tiers of partnership are populated by very successful lawyers who have fought their way to the top. But what about the younger lawyers coming up through the ranks? The expectations of young lawyers are changing and not all aspire to partnership. There are huge drop-out rates and talent is being lost to smaller, niche firms or Associates choose to move in-house.
How long can the legal profession sustain the high-pressure, long-hours culture without imploding on itself?
Probably not for much longer.
If the Clementi Report is a predictor of the legal world of the future, then we can expect more young, talented lawyers to move to Tesco or the RAC where they will have access to working conditions more in keeping with those of their friends unless something changes.
Within the last year, many more firms have been looking to industry for inspiration on how to develop and retain key talent. Two of the areas that has been getting a lot of interest are Coaching and Mentoring, particularly for women. In fact, Freshfields has just announced the launch of a new mentoring scheme for female associates (The Lawyer, 20th Feb 06).
Coaching, particularly when conducted by an impartial, external coach with a non-legal background, enables the person being coached (the coachee) to think clearly, creatively and objectively, to improve their time management and their leadership skills - they are also exposed to ideas from outside of the legal profession. The benefits for the firm are huge - their lawyers become more motivated, focused and are more likely to stay with the firm, saving on recruitment costs (regardless of whether they have their sights set on partnership).
Is coaching taken seriously by Lawyers?
In a word - yes.
The Law Society awards CPD hours for face to face coaching and workshops which teach coaching skills to people who manage staff.
For more information on how coaching could be integrated into the Learning & Development strategy for your firm, call Hannah McNamara of HRM Coaching on 020 8544 8024 or visit www.hrmcoaching.com.
I wonder what would the results would have looked like if the survey had been conducted solely in the City? In particular, within the larger City Law Firms?
Long hours is part of the culture, isn't it? Surely it's the people who are first to arrive and last to leave that get noticed, hit their billable hours targets and ultimately get promoted. If you want to be a partner, you put the hours in.
But it's not just work/life balance that gets sacrificed. In order to perform at your best, your mind needs rest. Just as an over-trained muscle will eventually shut down, an over-trained mind can become fuzzy and a tired, fuzzy mind can lead to mistakes, irritability and occasionally aggressive behaviour or bullying.
"If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen".
To a certain extent this has been true. The top tiers of partnership are populated by very successful lawyers who have fought their way to the top. But what about the younger lawyers coming up through the ranks? The expectations of young lawyers are changing and not all aspire to partnership. There are huge drop-out rates and talent is being lost to smaller, niche firms or Associates choose to move in-house.
How long can the legal profession sustain the high-pressure, long-hours culture without imploding on itself?
Probably not for much longer.
If the Clementi Report is a predictor of the legal world of the future, then we can expect more young, talented lawyers to move to Tesco or the RAC where they will have access to working conditions more in keeping with those of their friends unless something changes.
Within the last year, many more firms have been looking to industry for inspiration on how to develop and retain key talent. Two of the areas that has been getting a lot of interest are Coaching and Mentoring, particularly for women. In fact, Freshfields has just announced the launch of a new mentoring scheme for female associates (The Lawyer, 20th Feb 06).
Coaching, particularly when conducted by an impartial, external coach with a non-legal background, enables the person being coached (the coachee) to think clearly, creatively and objectively, to improve their time management and their leadership skills - they are also exposed to ideas from outside of the legal profession. The benefits for the firm are huge - their lawyers become more motivated, focused and are more likely to stay with the firm, saving on recruitment costs (regardless of whether they have their sights set on partnership).
Is coaching taken seriously by Lawyers?
In a word - yes.
The Law Society awards CPD hours for face to face coaching and workshops which teach coaching skills to people who manage staff.
For more information on how coaching could be integrated into the Learning & Development strategy for your firm, call Hannah McNamara of HRM Coaching on 020 8544 8024 or visit www.hrmcoaching.com.
posted by Hannah McNamara at 10:09 am
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