Lynne Burdon describes how a relaxed working regime and a rethink on logging hours have led to more satisfied clients and happier staff

A happy solicitor is an efficient solicitor - that is something I have always believed. Anyone who enjoys not only the work they do, but the environment in which they do it, is bound to produce better results than someone who is continually looking at the clock, willing it to read 5.30.


So, about three years ago, I asked our people what we could do to make our law firm a better place to work. The number one suggestion was for more flexible working.


I asked them what they meant by 'flexible'. Some people had experience of schemes run by other employers, and they were expecting the same sort of thing from us.


Most were along the lines of swapping hours today for hours next week - but that seemed a move in the wrong direction to me.


I realised that a detailed counting of hours worked was probably the last thing I wanted to do. There would be the administrative costs of such a scheme, and besides, we do not want long hours worked - what we do want is delighted clients, good billing, and happy and motivated staff. I decided those are the things we should be measuring.


We began a six-month experiment, not logging hours worked for almost all jobs (we could not find a way to include our receptionist and some support staff).


I said people could work when and where they wanted, subject to a few rules to make sure the office was staffed during core hours, and that no one was overworking. We also made it possible for more people to work at home, with broadband connections to our network.


I was not concerned about potential skivers - I felt that anyone who would take advantage of the new system was probably skiving already.


The experiment got off to a slow start - no one really showed trust in it. Managers were still mentally counting hours worked in their heads, and no one dared to say at 3pm: 'Work is done, I'm going shopping now.'


Some people thought it was just a way of getting everyone to work longer than a normal working week - but, of course, the reality was that most people were doing this anyway.


When the six months were up, we decided to extend the arrangement indefinitely - we had not found a single problem.


Two years later, there are still a few people who are not comfortable with this degree of flexibility and prefer to arrive at 9am and leave at 5.30pm.


That is fine - our system does not require anyone to change their hours of work if they do not want to - but most people appreciate the flexibility to take time off during the day and to work at times to suit them.


Our IT manager, for example, has used it to spend more time with her children, especially during school holidays.


'A very good example,' she told me, 'was when I had to go to West Ham Football Club to register my boys for a football tournament. I got to work after 10.30am. I wouldn't have been able to do this without flexible working.'


I am not sure if people are working more or fewer hours than before - but that is the whole point. We do not count hours any more.


I do know that billing has not fallen (we still record these) and that clients are more satisfied than ever before - and most of our staff are much happier.


Lynne Burdon is managing partner of London-based Bolt Burdon and Bolt Burdon Kemp