UNIT D - Blog 31

The problems of the work/family balance in the legal profession is that many people are having to work extremely long hours in order to get their work done. These people have families to go home to but when they are having to stay at the office just to finish their work they are left tired and unhappy. In these times now the economy is struggling so people are already in fear of losing their jobs so if they need to work those extra hours in order to get the job done then they will need to do this despite their home life situation. But many lawyers do have lives and kids to attend to and they'd rather have part time schedules to help accommodate their home situation but many lawyers aren't seen as serious when they work part time or flexible schedules. Many firms frown upon part time schedules because they look at the financial aspect in short term and are only adding up part of the costs. If the part time schedules were given out they'd save so much money in the long run, it costs more money when they lose workers due to part time schedules being denied. People tend to leave these jobs because they can't balance work and family and the company loses money because they have to pay to train new people and to recruit and their clients are also dissatisfied because they lose the lawyers they have put so much trust into. Many firms think the part time shifts are uneconomic but they aren't realizing that these lawyers have families and other obligations to attend to and if they'd accept these part time schedules they'd still get to keep these talented amazing lawyers. Firms are worrying to much about cost but they aren't thoroughly thinking it through because yes they might lose a little money by having to accommodate with part time schedules but they'd lose twice as much if they fired that employee so they should think about alot more instead of just denying the work life balance programs all together.