Biglaw Perk Watch: Flextime and Telecommuting

Our series about fringe benefits / perks rolls on. Today we’re going to talk about a topic that has surfaced previously, but hasn’t received a dedicated post of its own: flextime and telecommuting.
We’ll kick things off with an interesting article that’s all about, well, some firms’ LACK of flexibility when it comes to arrival times:

Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw recently asked securitization associates in its New York City office to be at their desks by 10 a.m. Actually, 9:30 a.m. would be even better, says that office’s partner-in-charge, Brian Trust.

According to the request, which took the form of a memo, some partners and, surprisingly, “several associates” were concerned that their colleagues were physically absent during “normal business hours.”

Not so surprising was the reaction the memo got when it ultimately made its way to legal news Web sites and blogs. “When you stop giving us assignments at 6 p.m. that require us to be there until midnight because you’re totally disorganized, we’ll come in at 9 a.m. or whenever you want,” fumed one writer who posted on the Wall Street Journal’s blog. “Other than that, shut your trap, collect your quarterly profits and let us handle our business.”

When we worked at McDonald’s years ago, we had to punch in and punch out. But Mayer Brown isn’t exactly Mickey D’s. Discussion continues after the jump.

The growing trend, however, may be in favor of greater flexibility in work schedules and environments, including telecommuting. According to the article, by Stephanie Francis Ward:

Needing to see associates at their desks may be generational, says R. Bruce McLean of Washington, D.C., chairman of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. When he sees empty offices, he wonders whether the firm has enough work, and he suspects that other lawyers his age have similar thoughts.

But he understands that many associates also work from home, and he says he wouldn’t care if an associate routinely came to work around 11:30 a.m.—providing that person got his or her work done….

Other firms may be coming around to McLean’s views. Steven C. Krane, a commercial litigation partner at New York City’s Proskauer Rose, says he doesn’t care when his associates arrive, as long as they do their work.

So, what’s your employer’s policy on start times? Can you work from home in the morning if you like? Or is some “face time” required?

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Punching the Clock: Firms crack down on start times [ABA Journal]
It’s 10:00 a.m. Do You Know Where Your Associates Are? [WSJ Law Blog]

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