Asia’s law firms are increasingly offering flexible working arrangements such as adjustable working hours and options to work from home – even allowances to go to the gym. In a year which saw firms implement pay cuts and salary freezes, reader responses to ALB’s Employer of Choice 2010 emphasised the importance of flexible working arrangements.
Firms such as Singapore’s Drew & Napier, Korea’s Yulchon, India’s Khaitan & Co and Vietnam’s VILAF allow their lawyers to work-from home. Gulf-based Fichte & Co offers job share arrangements and even three-day weeks for some lawyers, based on individual needs.
Some Indian firms are also flexible in their working hours. “Working flexibility and environment is one of the best things of this firm,” said one lawyer from FoxMandal Little.
Both female and male lawyers at Korean firm Yulchon recommended the firm for its arrangements. “Individual associate experiences will, of course, vary according to the work style of the partner supervising on a given matter, but in general the firm doesn't care when you work or how long you are in the office if you get the job done,” said one respondent. “I can and will stay late at the office, but I prefer to work at home outside regular office hours when needed. Here I have that flexibility; to my knowledge, that is much rarer at other top firms.”
“Married women could take good advantage of the home-working system, which is well established here at Yulchon,” said another.
Most firms across the region are flexible depending on each lawyer’s circumstances, and on a case-by-case basis. Some lawyers said they would encourage peers to simply ask and put forward options to their employers.
But not all firms are accommodating, with one Hong Kong lawyer stating that his employer expected work on weekends: “No [arrangements] offered here, and we still have rostered Saturday work.”
Another Indonesian lawyer lamented the pressure of being required to be constantly available: “We have to be available during the day and ready to be contacted during the night,” he said.
In Japan, the prevailing culture to work hard may be taking its toll on some lawyers: “As a firm policy they may offer some of these arrangements, but in this particular office I am certain an associate who took advantage of them would be fired within the year.”
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