Flexibility in the workplace acknowledges this and allows employees leeway in their hours so that they can be happy and productive at work.
It may be that a mum wants to work a compressed work week or a dad needs to collect the kids from school so as to play an active role in their children’s lives. It might be that you suddenly need time and space to get your kids and you to safety when you realise that it’s not safe to stay in the relationship you’re in. It may be that a student needs a last minute early knock off so she can finish her assignment by that midnight deadline.
Fostering a culture in which employees have the flexibility to prioritise their home life and family commitments has been proven by companies such as IBM, Medibank, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (and Lacey & Co might be little, but we’re hot on their tails) to boost productivity, improve retention rates, and increase more diverse talent acquisition.
There are lots of reasons why Lacey & Co’s collaborators need flexibility in their work arrangements. The law has long been criticised as a profession where flexibility can be hard to come by, and where burnout is enormous and worse yet, where suicide rates are very high. And we won’t be part of the problem and like to practice what we preach. We know we’d miss out on inordinate talent and that we’d burn those incredible people out too, if we indentured them to the crazy hours and inflexible conditions that were rife in the legal culture that Tom, Elizabeth and Charandev grew up in.
So we don’t.
And we’re small, so that can feel like a leap of faith. But maybe it’s even more essential to build it properly from the ground up, and to date, it just feels like it’s helping us fly.
We know, because we live it, that there’s a way beyond everyone burning out and missing out and balls being dropped in the ridiculous juggle that especially women have lived for so long.
If you recruit carefully and your workplace is safe and productive, if your expectations are clear and the people you have the privilege to lead know it’s safe to follow, then they ask when they need help or flexibility or variety and you do too. And then it’s rare to need to talk about hours or leave, for your people to pause with fear or guilt when they wake to a sick little one, need to pass an exam, or find themselves needing to use the family violence leave that none of us ever imagines we’ll need.
You can talk to us about your obligations as an employer and about your employee’s rights, any time. There are ways to be flexible without being taken advantage of. There are ways to create boundaries and safety in the world we spend so much time in, that sees everyone fulfil their potential.
Imagine if your workplace understood the vicissitudes of your life and valued you, regardless? Imagine what you’d want to offer back.
