Blogger Asks His Readers: Is Work-Life Balance ‘So Last August?’

A law firm consultant suggests that work-life balance issues wax and wane with the economy and asks his blog readers to weigh in on the issue.

Writing at Adam Smith, Esq., blogger and consultant Bruce MacEwen wonders if the work-life phenomenon has become “hopelessly 'last August.' ” His theory is that the issue “waxes and wanes in sync with demand and supply in the lawyer talent market.”

“When the economy, deal-making, and firms are all booming, and when the greatest constraint on capacity is available talent, firms will worship at the shrine of WLB in order to try to make themselves attractive to a wider cohort of the (fixed number) of law school graduates,” MacEwen writes. But in the present economic downturn, “the balance of negotiating power has shifted.”

MacEwen polled his readers, and Legal Blog Watch noted the results. Twenty-six agreed that work-life balance is “so last August,” and 39 said work-life balance is “flatly incompatible with firms performing at the highest level.” On the other side, 29 said WLB is “compatible with high performance if it helps retain talent” and 20 said it is “achievable in firms of all stripes given flexibility.”

MacEwen offered other choices that got fewer votes. Ten people, for example, said WLB is “a weak accommodation to lawyers who aren't serious.” Overall, nearly twice as many of the 170 votes cast were negative about work-life balance.