TAPS - Flextime/Work/Life Balance
1) Model Policies/Tips on Drafting Policies
Tips on Drafting a Flex-Time and Reduced-Time Policy and Negotiating the Right Arrangement for You (2002 2003)
http://www.flextimelawyers.com/
pdf/2002_2003newsletter.pdf
2) Articles
The Business Case for Flexibility: Why Flexible and Reduced Hours are in a Legal Employers Financial Interests (March/April 2007)
http://www.flextimelawyers.com/pdf/art4.pdf
Creative Ways for Law Firms to Survive the Economic Downturn (2007 2008)
http://www.flextimelawyers.com/pdf/newsletter_08.pdf
The Elusive Balance: Tips to Assess and Meet Your Work-Life Needs
(Summer 2008) http://www.flextimelawyers.com/pdf/art13.pdf
Face the FACTS: Implement a Multiple Target Billable Hours Approach to Address the Economic Downturn (Mar. 24, 2009)
http://www.flextimelawyers.com/pdf/art15.pdf
Facing the FACTS: Introducing Work/Life Choice for All Firm Lawyers Within the Billable Hour Model (November/December 2007)
http://www.flextimelawyers.com/pdf/art10.pdf
Increase Profits and Savings Through Work/Life Balance (November 2009)
http://www.flextimelawyers.com/pdf/art16.pdf
The Mommy Track Turns 21: Why it no longer deserves a bad rap from feminists.
http://www.slate.com/id/2249312?obref=obinsite
More workers are choosing fear over flex time, experts say (2010)
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/worklife
/03/29/flex.time/index.html?hpt=T2
Report and Recommendations of the Gender Equality Task Force of the Allegheny County Bar Association
http://www.acba.org/ACBA/pdf/ACBA_GenderReport_2008.pdf
The Nitty-Gritty of How and Why to Make Part-Time Work (2003 2004)
http://www.flextimelawyers.com/pdf/2003_2004newsletter.pdf
Prevailing Principles to Make Reduced Hour Schedules Succeed (September/October 2007)
http://www.flextimelawyers.com/pdf/art9.pdf
Stepping Into Your Shoes: Its time for Job Shares in Law Firms (July/August 2007)
http://www.flextimelawyers.com/pdf/art7.pdf
3) Studies
The Mental Health Place: Work and Motherhood: A Clinical Study
Jennifer Stuart, Ph.D., puts a psychoanalytic lens on the issue of work and motherhood as it applies to personal history of the individual and unconscious conflict.
New Study: Female Lawyers Leave Firms Primarily to Seek Flexible Situations
Charles Toutant
New Jersey Law Journal
May 15, 2009
Women lawyers in New Jersey are more likely to quit if their law firm does not have flexible work arrangements, and they are gravitating toward firms that do, says a new survey of women lawyers across New Jersey. Women "are no longer willing to stay and 'get along,'" says the study released May 4, "Legal Talent at the Crossroads: Why New Jersey Women Lawyers Leave their Law Firms and Why They Choose to Stay." The survey, consisting of anonymous interviews, was conducted by the State Employment and Training Commission Council on Gender Parity in Labor and Education in conjunction with Rutgers Universitys Center for Women and Work http://www.cww.rutgers.edu/. The report ends with a series of "best practices" recommendations for improving retention of women lawyers.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202430727917
One-Third of Women Fleeing the Workforce
Women who return to full-time work face a lower job title, a decrease in management and overall responsibilities and a striking financial penalty. Women who off-ramped for two years faced a 14% salary gap. The penalty tripled to 46% for those that left for three or more years.
4) Projects/initiatives
Darling Hill: Where Life and Flexible Lawyering Meet
In 2007, Darling Hill launched as a resource for lawyers and law students aspiring to pursue freelance writing as a complement to their legal careers. In 2008, Darling Hill took a new course, broadening its focus to become a resource for time-starved lawyers interested in finding flexible and meaningful work opportunities, including those not limited to freelance writing. Darling Hill is a 100% lawyer-parent friendly legal niche. It's where life and lawyering meet. The place where lawyers are goo-goo ga-ga in love with parenting and the law. And where some even come to forget about billables, even if just for a six-minute increment.
Project for Attorney Retention
PAR works to reduce unwanted attrition among lawyers, a benefit for both legal employers and lawyers, by promoting work/life balance and the advancement of women in the legal profession. We are an initiative of The Center of WorkLife Law http://www.worklifelaw.org/ of the University of California Hastings College of the Law, funded by our PAR members http://www.pardc.org/LFMembership/ and individual supporters. http://www.pardc.org/
Third Path Institute
The ThirdPath Institute, a nonprofit, nationally-based project that works to assist individuals and organizations in making more time for life. Together we are finding new options for men and women to approach family and new and innovative ways to redesign work and create more time for life. We do this in a variety of ways, through educational materials, conferences and trainings, organizational interventions, and more.
5) Miscellaneous
EEOC ISSUES NEW GUIDANCE ON WORK/FAMILY BALANCE AND PROMOTES EMPLOYER BEST PRACTICES
The new guidance is being issued by the EEOC as a proactive measure to address an emerging discrimination issue in the 21st century workplace. The document, Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities, provides examples under which discrimination against a working parent or other caregiver may constitute unlawful disparate treatment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The guidance notes that changing workplace demographics, including womens increased participation in the labor force, have created the potential for greater discrimination against working parents and others with caregiving responsibilities, such as eldercare all of which may vary by gender, race or ethnicity.
http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/5-23-07.cfm
JD Bliss: Balancing Life and the Law
JD Bliss is a blog that was launched to provide resources to (i) attorneys seeking greater career satisfaction and work life balance, and (ii) law firms seeking to improve attorney retention.
Among our services are webinars for law firms on attorney retention strategies. http://www.jdblissblog.com/
