Living
a satisfying and meaningful life requires lots of hard work and planning which
usually, result in a shift in the balance of the life and work of workers. Law
firms, lawyers, solicitors, professional law practitioners, need to strike a
balance in their life and work since success as a lawyer requires a no
boundaries mindset, work to the wee hours, a Continuous working process as the firm grows, as a prestigious position and career requires more hours, working
even on weekends, nights and vacations. The need for a balance in the life of a lawyer serving as an employee to an employer is very necessary, as the employer
themselves take time off once in a while to relax and recover from stress. Majority
of firms are now implementing strategies to help achieve a perfect balance of
life and work, making use of alternative work arrangements. This ' alternative work arrangements' include:
Ø Flextime
Ø Telecommuting
Ø Part-time
Ø Job sharing
Telecommuting
is a means for balancing the work and life of attorneys and lawyers, it
involves working from home, lawyers can be allowed to choose some days they can
be working from the comfort of their homes rather been in the office 24/7, this
procedure help to reduce commute time and unavoidable work distraction, many
firms are now adopting this method of balancing the work and life of their employees,
which in turn has contributed greatly to the productivity and efficiency of law
firms, solicitor and professional personnel
(Human Resource staffs working in a law
firm).
Flextime, here
lawyers are able to vary their work time depending on the decision they reach with
their superiors. Some work time may start late and close earlier or start
earlier and close late, hence availing a flextime opportunity for the lawyers.
Part-time
work arrangements make it possible for lawyers to work for some scheduled and
agreed time for their employers, the job time can be shared between two part-time
workers in a way that there's no downtime in the whole working hours, the part-time
law workers now have the time to focus on improving their life and explore
other life activities to make their life worthwhile.
Job
sharing involves sharing a given job position between two part-time lawyers in such
a way that both of them can either be working together on cases at hand thereby
saving time and improving the rate of
completion of a given case or they can separately be working on the different
cases on hand, thereby also improving the time of completion of cases on hand
and giving the lawyers more time especially when they have done all that needs
to be done.
Most the firm has now been offering most of their employees an on-site fitness club and
provision of child care facilities for caring parents those who have made
use of the alternative work arrangements have benefited, some " mostly
young lawyers" on the other hand are still finding it hard to maintain a
healthy work-life scheduled as they are scared of using the alternative work
arrangement present In a given law firm, since they have to first prove
themselves to their employees that they are hardworking, since most lawyers who
have adopted these procedures have been viewed as either lazy or partly
dedicated to their jobs and aren't fit for promotion.
There
are some steps that can help a lawyer to achieve a perfect balance of work and
life;
« Take control of their time;
lawyers can set time aside for themselves, they can notify their assistance if
they have one, scheduled time on their digital Watch or calendar on time for
leisure and other activities
« Adopt a flexible working
pattern; a rigid working habit without taking time off to unplug will only
make the work of a lawyer to be more hectic and monotonous.
« Use of time conservative
tools
« Meticulous job approach
« Restriction of unnecessary
downtime
The
above can to balance the time spent by a lawyer in his job so that he doesn't
allow it to create an unhealthy life pattern.