Men Report Changed Attitudes Toward Work And Life

Last month, Part One revealed some of the significant findings of a study released in October 2004 titled “Generation & Gender in the Workplace.” The study documents many things that change the equation regarding workplace attitudes. It was conducted by the Families and Work Institute and sponsored and funded by the American Business Collaboration (ABC), a group of eight major businesses, including two accounting/consulting firms, that believe collaboration can accomplish more than working alone. In Part Two, we present results on ambition and taking on responsibility ' at work and at home.

Ambition For Greater Responsibility

There has been a decline of 16% in the portion of college-educated men (Gen Y, X, and Boomer) since 1992 who want to move into jobs of more responsibility. (For women, the decline is 21 percentage points.) The study analysts see this as the real revolution, rather than that younger women are opting out of the workforce.

Men are more likely than women to want jobs with greater responsibility, but that's still only 45% of men in the study (47% prefer the same level of responsibility) or 52% when the Matures are not counted. Only 39% of employees with graduate or professional degrees want to move into jobs with greater responsibility. (Obviously, lawyers fall into that advanced education category.)

Sixty percent of college educated Gen Y, Gen X, and Boomers of both genders who don't experience negative spillover from jobs to family life want more responsibility in their work.

Most of those who do want to move up don't see opportunities in their current organization.

Higher level and higher earning professionals and managers don't present attractive role models for the pipeline of potential management candidates.

Evidence from the findings suggests that the younger generations tend to reject many of the realities that were a given in “their father's workplace.” A quote from the “Generations & Gender” report deserves serious thought on the part of decision-makers in business organizations as well as the people who work in those organizations:

“Although a lot has been written about the 'Opt-Out Revolution,' defined as employed women leaving the workforce when they have very young children, we see this downtrend in career ambitions as the real revolution, where very sizable numbers of women and men are working hard, but not wanting the trade-offs they would have to make by advancing into jobs with more responsibility.”

A recent study by The Families and Work Institute, Catalyst, and Boston College found that dual-centric employees advanced farther in their careers than either the work-centric or family-centric ones. That suggests that more than one focus and endeavors to find a sense of balance help both the individual and the employer organization

Conclusions For Law Firms

Here are some conclusions from the study results that have significant implications for law firms and their partnership cultures:

Since people who don't find their work responsibilities intruding greatly into their personal lives are more likely to want increased responsibility (as documented in the study), a dual-centric balance appears to be a motivator for increased growth and productivity of lawyers and other professionals, executives and other employees.

Firms would benefit from encouraging their people to focus both on their work and their personal lives. It will help them to be both more professionally successful and personally fulfilled.

Suggestion: Support flexible arrangements and work to remove cultural stigma regarding anything non-traditional. Focus more on performance achievements than when and where hours are billed.

Family-oriented events and programs can build cohesiveness, loyalty and more effective business generation efforts through opportunities for relationship building and trust building.

Suggestion: Make efforts to instill an authentic community feeling. Support both internal and business development events that respect family time and recognize participation.

Law firms will find themselves in trouble in the talent wars if they don't change to be more focused on what their people want and need ' a “people come first” attitude and culture. Younger generations in the workplace are not nearly as inherently work-centric as the more senior people, so they need extra encouragement and psychic rewards. These efforts don't have to be costly, but they do have to be sincere to succeed, make people feel valued and respected and be visibly supported by management.

The study's findings raise a number of critical questions that firm leaders and managers ignore at the peril of firm stability for the long-term.

Q. If more than half of lawyers who would like to have jobs with more responsibility are either somewhat or very likely to seek employment elsewhere in the near future, what can firms do to retain them?

Suggestion: Take career planning as well as professional development seriously. Make people feel valued rather than harassed.

Q. How can work, especially in the highly time-pressured professional service industries like law, be restructured so that it works better for people and their clients within the requirements of a competitive global economy?

Suggestion: Solicit ideas from the people most affected. There are many workable solutions if approached with an open mind and a commitment to change.

Q. How can firms provide for both women and men to step on and off the fast track? Can the fast track itself be redefined?

Suggestion: “Sequencing” is a hot topic now. Some large corporations, accounting and consulting firms are giving professionals time off and still giving them annual training. They are creating “on-ramps” for talented alumni to come back after a work-hiatus.

Q. How can firms retain senior professionals ' those that have the client relationships, institutional knowledge, experience, judgment and maturity ' in productive roles for mutual benefit?

Suggestion: Be creative. One size doesn't have to fit all. (This is a subject for another article.)

Q. How do law firms get men to talk more openly about what they are revealing in surveys and confidential interviews (such as those I conduct with clients and people I meet through my networks) so that it will be apparent that these are not women's issues but rather everybody's issues and they can be taken seriously?

Suggestion: Actively invite them to speak up, listen carefully, and respond positively to their concerns. Respect their commitment to work when it is dual-centric and family-centric.

Q. How can we spread the business case for restructuring the workplace so it works better for people?

This may be the easiest question to answer if firms truly want to make the effort to listen, collect all the relevant data and act on findings.

Q. Who and which organizations are the models, benchmarks and innovators for restructuring?

Suggestion: Law firms will have to look outside of the profession primarily to other professions and to their clients in some cases.

What can firm management do to address the issues highlighted in the surveys?

First, acknowledge the seriousness of and the widespread desire for change in the younger ranks ' the people who represent the future of your firms. Take steps to bring the generations together to collaborate on solutions and break down resentments. Look at flexibility as a benefit to professionals at all levels, genders and ages, senior as well as junior attorneys. That will help to eliminate stigma and demonstrate the firm truly believes in the quality of people's lives. Talk to clients. Many of them are way ahead of law firms in restructuring work-life. Last, have faith that the talented professionals you pursue and pay so well will get their work done with more motivation and enthusiasm when they feel more in control. Isn't that the basis of an effective partnership and conducive culture?

This is a true alert, time to pay attention to the alarm clock and stop hitting the snooze button. Let's get a dialog going on these questions.

Last month, Part One revealed some of the significant findings of a study released in October 2004 titled “Generation & Gender in the Workplace.” The study documents many things that change the equation regarding workplace attitudes. It was conducted by the Families and Work Institute and sponsored and funded by the American Business Collaboration (ABC), a group of eight major businesses, including two accounting/consulting firms, that believe collaboration can accomplish more than working alone. In Part Two, we present results on ambition and taking on responsibility ' at work and at home.

Ambition For Greater Responsibility

There has been a decline of 16% in the portion of college-educated men (Gen Y, X, and Boomer) since 1992 who want to move into jobs of more responsibility. (For women, the decline is 21 percentage points.) The study analysts see this as the real revolution, rather than that younger women are opting out of the workforce.

Men are more likely than women to want jobs with greater responsibility, but that's still only 45% of men in the study (47% prefer the same level of responsibility) or 52% when the Matures are not counted. Only 39% of employees with graduate or professional degrees want to move into jobs with greater responsibility. (Obviously, lawyers fall into that advanced education category.)

Sixty percent of college educated Gen Y, Gen X, and Boomers of both genders who don't experience negative spillover from jobs to family life want more responsibility in their work.

Most of those who do want to move up don't see opportunities in their current organization.

Higher level and higher earning professionals and managers don't present attractive role models for the pipeline of potential management candidates.

Evidence from the findings suggests that the younger generations tend to reject many of the realities that were a given in “their father's workplace.” A quote from the “Generations & Gender” report deserves serious thought on the part of decision-makers in business organizations as well as the people who work in those organizations:

“Although a lot has been written about the 'Opt-Out Revolution,' defined as employed women leaving the workforce when they have very young children, we see this downtrend in career ambitions as the real revolution, where very sizable numbers of women and men are working hard, but not wanting the trade-offs they would have to make by advancing into jobs with more responsibility.”

A recent study by The Families and Work Institute, Catalyst, and Boston College found that dual-centric employees advanced farther in their careers than either the work-centric or family-centric ones. That suggests that more than one focus and endeavors to find a sense of balance help both the individual and the employer organization

Conclusions For Law Firms

Here are some conclusions from the study results that have significant implications for law firms and their partnership cultures:

Since people who don't find their work responsibilities intruding greatly into their personal lives are more likely to want increased responsibility (as documented in the study), a dual-centric balance appears to be a motivator for increased growth and productivity of lawyers and other professionals, executives and other employees.

Firms would benefit from encouraging their people to focus both on their work and their personal lives. It will help them to be both more professionally successful and personally fulfilled.

Suggestion: Support flexible arrangements and work to remove cultural stigma regarding anything non-traditional. Focus more on performance achievements than when and where hours are billed.

Family-oriented events and programs can build cohesiveness, loyalty and more effective business generation efforts through opportunities for relationship building and trust building.

Suggestion: Make efforts to instill an authentic community feeling. Support both internal and business development events that respect family time and recognize participation.

Law firms will find themselves in trouble in the talent wars if they don't change to be more focused on what their people want and need ' a “people come first” attitude and culture. Younger generations in the workplace are not nearly as inherently work-centric as the more senior people, so they need extra encouragement and psychic rewards. These efforts don't have to be costly, but they do have to be sincere to succeed, make people feel valued and respected and be visibly supported by management.

The study's findings raise a number of critical questions that firm leaders and managers ignore at the peril of firm stability for the long-term.

Q. If more than half of lawyers who would like to have jobs with more responsibility are either somewhat or very likely to seek employment elsewhere in the near future, what can firms do to retain them?

Suggestion: Take career planning as well as professional development seriously. Make people feel valued rather than harassed.

Q. How can work, especially in the highly time-pressured professional service industries like law, be restructured so that it works better for people and their clients within the requirements of a competitive global economy?

Suggestion: Solicit ideas from the people most affected. There are many workable solutions if approached with an open mind and a commitment to change.

Q. How can firms provide for both women and men to step on and off the fast track? Can the fast track itself be redefined?

Suggestion: “Sequencing” is a hot topic now. Some large corporations, accounting and consulting firms are giving professionals time off and still giving them annual training. They are creating “on-ramps” for talented alumni to come back after a work-hiatus.

Q. How can firms retain senior professionals ' those that have the client relationships, institutional knowledge, experience, judgment and maturity ' in productive roles for mutual benefit?

Suggestion: Be creative. One size doesn't have to fit all. (This is a subject for another article.)

Q. How do law firms get men to talk more openly about what they are revealing in surveys and confidential interviews (such as those I conduct with clients and people I meet through my networks) so that it will be apparent that these are not women's issues but rather everybody's issues and they can be taken seriously?

Suggestion: Actively invite them to speak up, listen carefully, and respond positively to their concerns. Respect their commitment to work when it is dual-centric and family-centric.

Q. How can we spread the business case for restructuring the workplace so it works better for people?

This may be the easiest question to answer if firms truly want to make the effort to listen, collect all the relevant data and act on findings.

Q. Who and which organizations are the models, benchmarks and innovators for restructuring?

Suggestion: Law firms will have to look outside of the profession primarily to other professions and to their clients in some cases.

What can firm management do to address the issues highlighted in the surveys?

First, acknowledge the seriousness of and the widespread desire for change in the younger ranks ' the people who represent the future of your firms. Take steps to bring the generations together to collaborate on solutions and break down resentments. Look at flexibility as a benefit to professionals at all levels, genders and ages, senior as well as junior attorneys. That will help to eliminate stigma and demonstrate the firm truly believes in the quality of people's lives. Talk to clients. Many of them are way ahead of law firms in restructuring work-life. Last, have faith that the talented professionals you pursue and pay so well will get their work done with more motivation and enthusiasm when they feel more in control. Isn't that the basis of an effective partnership and conducive culture?

This is a true alert, time to pay attention to the alarm clock and stop hitting the snooze button. Let's get a dialog going on these questions.