Do you think the recession is good or bad for work life balance? Obviously some think that the recession will make some lawyers work harder in hopes of avoiding being laid off.  Wow, what a set back that could be for finding true work life balance!

My take is that the recession can be great for giving you some extra time in your day, if that’s what you want. If you know your employer needs to cut costs it might be better to offer to work part-time and lose some of your pay, rather than end up completely unemployed if your employer starts laying people off. Already some companies are speaking with their employees about taking pay-cuts to avoid layoffs (Fed-Ex did it), so why not go that one step further and say here is a way to save money, and we’ll work as hard as we can while we are here, but we want more time off as a benefit of the pay cuts. Maybe you want shorter days, a shorter work week, or even just one extra day off per month. Time is a gift and may be worth the financial cost.

Yes, I definitely think this is a great time for firms to truly embrace part-time and flexible schedules. I left my paralegal position because I wanted and needed more flexibility in my life. For me being an entrepreneur was the right answer, but I had many colleagues who would have given up money for a part-time position. Unfortunately, in every law practice I’ve worked at it was very difficult to work part-time or flex-time. Many claimed to have flexible work arrangements available, but they weren’t easy to access and sometimes meant as little as working 30 minutes less every day so you could go home “earlier”. Let’s hope that one benefit of a recession is a little more appreciation for the people who want it all – careers and time to enjoy their life!

Oh and if you are concerned about work life balance maybe you should check out this conference in Chicago – the Get a Life Conference for attorneys – looks pretty cool!