Long hours and small hours

An acquaintance who works as a junior lawyer at a City firm routinely starts work at 9am and finishes after midnight. The average clocking off time for juniors leaving the office is, apparently, 11.45pm (slackers!). Thank goodness for the night bus.

They are doubtless handsomely rewarded, as the NQ pay war would attest. The question is: what is demanded of them in return for such sums? Is their wellbeing high on firms’ agendas? Are staff encouraged to take breaks and not to work into the small hours? Are junior lawyers assured that they can own up to mistakes and not necessarily cost themselves the kind of salary almost all of their peers could only dream of? The SRA should ask these questions – and clamp down on those firms that don’t have the answers.

This week’s new guidance on ‘culture’ in the workplace suggests it might. The regulator issued a welcome clarification of what it expects of firms in relation to staff wellbeing.

Too often in the past the SRA seems to have gone after the symptom of toxic workplaces rather than the cause – prosecuting the low-hanging fruit of the defenceless (sometimes literally) junior and ignoring the context of their misconduct.

Now the regulator will take action against a firm where there is evidence of ‘wholly unreasonable workloads or targets’. There is no definition of what constitutes ‘wholly unreasonable’ (and why not just ‘unreasonable’?). But one assumes that where a junior is reduced to tears in the office or getting by on just a few hours’ sleep, that would count.

Firms must also show they have effective systems to supervise and support staff, and prevent serious incompetence or performance issues. Senior partners knowingly ignoring junior lawyers’ struggles will not, it would appear, be tolerated any more.

Whether the SRA has the resources or inclination to back up these pledges remains to be seen. The biggest firms have the deepest pockets and can really take on the regulator where they choose to pick a fight.

It is also easy to imagine some firms – and even junior lawyers – accepting that unreasonable workloads are a quid pro quo for their often huge salaries. But we should still welcome the SRA’s efforts to stop the trend crossing over into exploitation.