WORK-LIFE BALANCE : Balancing the Workday Diet

New Zealand Management, Sep 5, 2006 by Vicki Jayne

When murder and rape are part of the daily workday diet, a supportive workplace culture is not just nice - but necessary.

That's at least part of the thinking behind law firm Meredith Connell's focus on creating a company structure that can stretch to accommodate individual employee needs. The firm's status as Office of the Crown Solicitor in Auckland means the bulk of its work involves criminal prosecutions ranging from serious drugs charges to murder. It is a very demanding work environment that requires a "large measure of professional dedication, skill and strength of character", notes Meredith Connell EEO partner Susan Gray.

Given the fairly extreme nature of the work, it's only appropriate, says Gray, that the "firm provide all the support programmes necessary to assist staff, not only to perform well professionally but also to maintain a sense of balance as far as the rest of their lives are concerned".

One consequence of this approach is that more than half its female staff and nearly one third its male employees now have work patterns that take into account some aspect of their work-life balance preferences and needs. This flexibility is attuned to specific individual needs - it could relate to a temporary situation, a change in personal circumstances or in lifestyle priorities.

For instance, one senior staff lawyer whose husband suffered a heart attack took many days' special leave in excess of her entitlement. The firm was also able to accommodate a senior male prosecutor who wanted to spend six months at the firm and the rest of the year cruising in the Mediterranean. Another was supported in taking nine months off to recover from chronic fatigue syndrome on the firm's insurance policy.

One employee who's enjoyed the flexible attitude and "family-type atmosphere" at Meredith Connell is Joan Taylor. Now in her mid-70s, she first worked at the firm in 1949 and still puts in a couple of days a week doing legal library work. The mutually agreed phased retirement means she can still add value at work whilst having the freedom to build up outside interests - such as her involvement in the University of the Third Age.

The firm's own work history goes back to 1921 when it was founded in Auckland. Over the past six years, its workforce has doubled and there are now 21 partners and 139 staff - more than two thirds of whom are women. Its HR function is shared between the CEO, finance managers and partners, with the latter largely responsible for leadership, morale, professional development and team management.

That means there are very few global HR directions - every person in the firm is managed on an individual basis, but a strong sense of belonging is engendered through the work culture. How this helps to shape and define the organisation was highlighted to staff in a series of 'culture seminars' earlier this year.

Some of the pragmatic aspects of this include generous leave provisions - the birth of a new baby earns an extra week's paid leave and a new parent with primary care responsibilities gets six weeks' paid leave. Plus there is paid study leave and 10 days of special (sick) leave.

Employees are also looked after healthwise with weekly subsidised yoga on site, flu jabs and EAP support, while a sense of inclusion is engendered through a series of social, sporting and family events. More uniquely, there's a very tangible $2000 annual reward which goes to someone who has displayed exemplary service or loyalty.

The payback

Staff retention is a big issue at Meredith Connell. The nature of its work means the firm has to recruit and train people with out-of- the-ordinary skill sets and personalities. It takes seven years to train professional staff to the level needed for High Court jury trials.

Support staff also have highly specialised skills - most of which are gained on the job. Here too, personality profiles are important as they're often exposed to stressful photos, pictures and testimony during evidence preparation.

All of which makes retention fundamental to the firm's wellbeing. The good news is that their turnover for professionals (at five percent) and support staff (15 percent) is half that of the legal industry in general. The financial value alone has been estimated at $360,000 a year.

The partners see a direct link between work flexibility and low staff turnover. In particular, the parental leave policy has been very successful in retaining women staff. It can also boast a low rate of absenteeism and recruits primarily by being an employer of choice.

Last year, it earned that accolade at the NZ Law Awards. This year it has earned the EEO Trust's Large Organisation Award.

Choice is power

They may differ in scale and structure but both the large and small-to-medium EEO award winners share a common element of work flexibility success - an approach that's non-prescriptive and focused around individual needs.

Conversa Global is a research consultancy that has just 18 staff in its Auckland office, though it employs some 400 on a sub-contract basis in 55 countries. Its rationale for kicking off a work-life programme had a lot to do with making a distinction between 'busyness' and productivity.