A Flexible Working Strategy for Business Success

Business Case

The legal industry is known for its grueling long and irregular hours, with many law firms grappling with high attrition rates, amongst other challenges. To attract and retain talents amidst this highly demanding industry, Rajah & Tann saw the need to implement strategies to promote work-life harmony as a key business imperative. Its vision was to encourage and empower its people to be at their best in both the workplace and their personal lives.

Featured Work-Life Programmes

Rajah & Tann focuses on work-life programmes such as:

• Creative scheduling
• Part-time work
• Telecommuting

Implementation

The firm’s strategies include:

Recognising HR as a Strategic Business Partner

Rajah & Tann’s HR team has the autonomy to enhance employee engagement, for example, by proposing swift solutions to address personnel challenges. In fact, in recent years, it has worked closely with the firm’s leadership, as well as led various initiatives to enhance business processes, and employee productivity and well-being. For instance, the team worked with a Partner to devise a targeted engagement plan to increase employee retention in a specific team. It also utilises national programmes to conduct trainings targeted at individuals, teams, and leaders, to build a cohesive team culture and boost service excellence.

Building A Sustainable Work-Life Strategy That Meets Business Needs 

Rajah & Tann recognises that for work-life practices and policies to be truly sustainable over the long term, they must meet not only the needs of employees, but those of the business as well. Thus, the firm’s FWAs are designed with the aim of ensuring greater work efficiency and business continuity – resulting in service excellence for their clients. For example, its FWAs are supported with infrastructure and technology to ensure the seamless delivery of services to clients at any time; its lawyers are provided with iPads and remote access to all documents, allowing them to work efficiently even when off-site.  
Offering flexibility has directly enabled the firm to provide better business solutions for clients. In 2015, the firm launched Rajah & Tann Asia Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary. This legal resource service provider offers customised solutions for clients who require legal services on a short-term or project basis. The firm has been able to cultivate a highly qualified pool of legal professionals who prefer short-term projects and successfully match them to clients, providing cost-effective business solutions for its clients as a result. 

Building a Focused Communication Plan

Employees at Rajah & Tann are constantly on the go and are often off-site or spread out across various levels in the office. To ensure that they are kept updated on the firm’s work-life initiatives, employees receive newsletters regarding work-life matters, and news of staff participating in work-life programmes is also shared regularly via intranet. These efforts have successfully created greater awareness and buzz around work-life harmony, helping to entrench the work-life culture of the firm.

Outcomes

Rajah & Tann’s commitment to building a sustainable work-life strategy has proven to be a wise investment. Today, the firm consistently attracts and retains high-performing and motivated employees. In 2018, the firm received the Tripartite Alliance Award for the Work-Life Excellence Category. In 2019, it was recognised as one of the Top 25 innovative firms at the Financial Times Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers 2019. Some of its other recent awards include the Singapore Firm of The Year at the Who’s Who Legal Awards held in London, Top 100 International Arbitration Practice Worldwide by The Global Arbitration Review 100, and several awards at the Asian Legal Business SE Asia Law Awards 2019. These regional and international awards are a source of encouragement to the firm’s lawyers and other staff, and also a testament to how Rajah & Tann’s flexible work culture has contributed to the firm’s success.

This case study was first published in 2017, and has been adapted from TAFEP's Work-Life Resource Portal.