And it’s not just money being used to keep workers happy.
DLA Piper, a global law firm with offices in more than 40 countries, offered its lawyers a “one-week thank you,” allowing them to choose between one week’s extra pay or a further week of holiday.
“Throughout the pandemic our people have been exceptional,” said Simon Levine, DLA Piper’s global co-CEO. “The extra week’s pay or holiday is just one small way of us saying thank you to them for everything they have achieved in such a challenging year.”
Hard-working associates need some period of recovery because that’s where performance improvement happens, said Mitch Zuklie, chairman and chief executive officer of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, an international law firm founded in San Francisco. In order to avoid burnout, Orrick implemented recently implemented its “Unplug Time” policy, which gives its attorneys and staff 40 hours of additional vacation per year. So far, Zuklie said 15% of associates have used the program.
7 Days a Week
“It is a big problem when very talented people are saying I won’t do this for all the tea in China,” said Zuklie. “You have to listen and think about it and take that seriously.”
Other Big Law firms have begun experimenting with solutions to help their associates outside of just pure cash. Dentons and Baker McKenzie have both experimented with no meetings days, while Davis Polk is offering its associates luxury gifts as a reward for their work.
“It’s about sustaining top performance,” Zuklie said. “I think if we don’t get that right Big Law could really face an existential crisis and we could lose the talent that we’re working so hard to identify and attract, to train and to advance.”
One attorney who left a position doing securities work for a big law firm last year and went to a smaller firm was able to do that while matching compensation—not including bonus—while working more manageable hours doing more varied work.
The associate resigned after billing 13- and 14-hour days, multiple days in a row. “At that point I just did not care about the prestige anymore. I was having such bad days and nights where I just felt like I wasn’t being treated as a human,” said the associate, who asked not to be named to preserve relationships.
“We all know what we signed up for, but you can’t work 7 days a week, nonstop.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.