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One of the UK’s top law firms is testing a series of schemes for junior lawyers, including job shares and options for school holiday leave, in plans that will reshape working life after the pandemic.
Slaughter and May has launched three pilots for associates in recent months, which are expected to last about a year. Under its “switch on/off” plan, lawyers can cut their hours over the course of a year by taking pre-agreed blocks of leave, for example in the school holidays, in return for reduced pay. Lawyers can also reduce their time commitments by a maximum of 20 per cent compared with a full-time equivalent lawyer.
Under the second scheme, projects-based lawyers have the option to take unpaid leave between jobs. This is aimed at associates who work in sectors such as private equity and corporate law, where work can go through periods of high intensity. Associates who use the scheme are expected to work five days a week when not on leave and a maximum of 20 per cent less than a full-time employee, according to the firm.
Top-tier global law firms have benefited from high demand for advice during the pandemic, but have grappled with issues such as staff burnout and calls for more flexible ways of working. Slaughter and May said it had begun considering the pilot before the pandemic, but had launched it in recent months.
It is also offering associates the chance to split jobs on reduced hours. Two associates can share a single role and work three days each a week with one day of overlap. The pairing can be two associates at the same level or a junior and senior lawyer on the same team.
“We want to find working arrangements that provide our lawyers with a sustainable way of working, but which also ensure they feel supported to do their work and continue to deliver value to clients, whilst also developing their careers, and managing work-life balance,” said Slaughter and May partner Caroline Philips.
The plans come as companies warn that they have been left to decide how to interpret the government’s advice on protecting their workers and employees, including whether to maintain higher levels of Covid-19 precautions than mandated by government.
Professional service firms and banks have taken differing responses to post-pandemic office life. Bankers at Goldman Sachs were called back to their desks last month and Morgan Stanley chief executive James Gorman said he would be “very disappointed” if staff were not physically coming into the office by September.
But elsewhere, accountancy firm BDO has told staff to decide for themselves when to return to the office and said employees could work wherever was most productive, depending on the task they were doing. BDO said this would mean a mixture of working at home, in the office and in clients’ offices. In June, law firm Norton Rose Fulbright said workers would be able to spend two days a week working alongside their team, two days a week working from home and have one flexible day for remote or office working. The firm is also letting staff choose their own hours.
Other professional service firms have been more prescriptive. KPMG told its 16,000 employees that they could spend a maximum of four days every two weeks in the office after the pandemic.
Additional reporting by Michael O’Dwyer
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