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opinion
Small and medium-sized firms can derive practical advantages from
flexible working practices just as much as larger firms can
TOO SMALL TO BE FLEXIBLE?
Claire
Cowell
is a partner in Bonar
Mackenzie WS, Edinburgh
www.journalonline.co.uk
Flexible working in the medium/
smaller firm, once considered an
impossibility or, at the very least, an
impracticality, can now be seen not
only as a practical solution to the drift
of talented staff out of the profession
but a positive boon – encouraging
experienced and talented solicitors to
remain in private practice.
“Flexible working”, of course, is a hot
topic following recent legislative
changes and, in our own context, the
recently published Law Society of
Scotland/EOC survey. Although worklife
balance policies have tended to
focus on women, flexible working
should not be seen as an issue
excluding men. No longer are men
expected to support their families
simply by being at work; they are
expected to contribute to their family
and support their spouses’ careers by
being at home. Nor is flexible working
solely for the purposes of childcare; as
our population ages, caring for elderly
relatives becomes a more pressing
issue. Flexible working may also be
seen simply as a lifestyle choice.
So far so pleasantly idyllic – but can
these aspirations translate into
practicalities in the gritty world of the
small to medium sized legal firm? And,
more to the point, why would you
want them to?
At Bonar Mackenzie we have found
that we have not only retained
solicitors but have attracted new and
talented staff by offering a flexible
attitude to working practices.
“Flexible”, although it includes part
time work, can also include full time
hours outwith the usual 9-5,
homeworking, reduced hours and job
sharing, all of which are practised at
Bonars.This extends both up and
down the business: three of our
partners, one associate and one third
of our support/secretarial staff are on
various forms of flexible working.
There are several advantages of
offering flexible working patterns:
■ Increased staff retention – the
immediate impact of loss of staff is felt
in the cost (and risk) of recruiting new
employees (and with the loss of fee
earning time involved, the impact is felt
most keenly in small/medium firms
without an HR department to
manage this process). Factored in
should also be the less visible costs
such as loss of knowledge and
expertise and severed client contacts.
■ Improved recruitment
opportunities – once flexible working
is embraced, the recruitment pool
widens considerably. Research carried
out in England suggests that while
large firms may recruit relatively high
numbers of newly qualified women,
generally they are “uninterested in
women returners”– a valuable pool of
experienced, talented individuals to be
drawn upon by firms prepared to
offer that sought-after flexibility.
■ Improved morale, productivity and
commitment and less absenteeism –
a firm which recognises the need for
its staff to balance their professional
and personal commitments will be
rewarded in spades with commitment
both to making the arrangement work
and to advancing the firm’s business
goals.
■ Flexibility breeds flexibility in
return – flexible workers will often
assist in providing cover at busy
periods or holidays, a resource of
particular value to the small/medium
firm which often does not carry the
extra capacity to deal with fluctuating
demands.
■ External perceptions – for the firm
which manages this process there is
the added bonus of recognition as an
enlightened, forward-thinking firm,
willing to embrace change.
Some points in managing flexible
working:
■ Flexible working must be aligned
with business need, a process that
requires commitment, communication
and trust on both sides.
■ An excellent support team is
essential in providing a continuous
point of contact for the client.
■ The use of technology – voicemail,
email and computer systems accessed
remotely, digital dictation and mobile
Flexibility breeds flexibility in return –
flexible workers will often assist in
providing cover at busy periods
phones all make the physical location
of the solicitor far less important.
In a profession which equates long
hours in the office with commitment,
where does this leave the flexible
worker? A change of perception is
required which measures commitment
in terms of quality of work (rather
than hours present) and which
reviews profitability and benefit in an
overall context.
It has long been apparent that there
has been a drift of talent, educated and
trained by the profession, away from
private practice into institutions and
government where they can obtain
flexible working conditions without
prejudicing their rise to senior levels.
Flexible working should be seen by
the medium/smaller firms not as a
threat but an opportunity to attract
talent and expertise into their
business: a means to differentiate
themselves from their competitors in
order to recruit and retain staff, if they
are prepared to take the lead and
change the way they approach
working patterns.
The Journal: December 2005
: 9