Legal Technology and the Future of Women in Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 164-183
Author(s):  
Kayal Munisami
Keyword(s):  
Due Process ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Working Hours ◽  
Gender Biases ◽  
Legal Technology ◽  
Equality And Diversity

Much has been written about how automation will change the legal profession as a whole, less so about how automation might affect women in legal practice. This paper briefly maps the likely changes that legal tech (legal technology) will bring to the provision of legal services, and explores how these changes might affect the barriers to advancement that women face in the profession. It determines that, while the use of legal tech may improve women’s work/life balance and overall job satisfaction by bringing about more flexible working hours, positive changes to the billing hours’ system, and fairer hiring and promotion mechanisms, an unfettered inclusion of legal tech might lead to increased working hours for less wages, increased competition for case files among associates, and the perpetuation of existing gender biases when using algorithms in the hiring and promotion process. Finally, the paper makes several recommendations on how law societies, bar associations and other relevant regulatory bodies could ensure that legal tech promotes rather than hinders Equality & Diversity in the legal profession. It proposes that: (1) detailed data on men and women lawyers should be collected to better inform equality and diversity policies; (2) law firms should be required to report on their progress in pursuing equality and diversity; (3) management techniques to promote work/life balance and more flexible pricing systems should be encouraged; (4) female entrepreneurship in legal tech should be promoted; and, (5) technological due process procedures should be required when using algorithms in law firm management to ensure fairness, accuracy and accountability.

scholarly journals 85 WORK-LIFE-BALANCE BENEFITS AS BRAIN DRAIN PREVENTION

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliška Nacházelová ◽  
◽  
Alice Reissová ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Drain ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Working Hours ◽  
Important Benefit ◽  
The Right

The contribution of highly qualified employees, not only for multinational companies, is unquestionable. Their eventual departure often has negative economic consequences, and their replacement is usually difficult and expensive. Therefore, it is important to pay increased attention to their stabilization. This article aims to find out which of the work-life balance area benefits are more important for the stabilization of IT employees in an international automotive company (n=154). With the use of the Friedman test, it was found out that the most important benefit is flexible working hours. Based on the Kruskal-Wallis test, the evaluation of the importance of individual benefits was further verified according to basic socio-economic factors (age, gender, length of employment). The right setting of benefits will give a competitive advantage in the search for new talent and at the same time serve as an effective tool against brain drain.

scholarly journals Effecten van tijd-ruimtelijke flexibiliteit op de balans tussen werk en privé

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascale Peters ◽  
Laura den Dulk ◽  
Tanja van der Lippe
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
New Employees ◽  
Management By Objectives ◽  
Flexible Working Hours ◽  
Part Time

The Effects of Time-Spatial Flexibility and New Working Conditions on Employees' Work-Life Balance: The Dutch Case The Effects of Time-Spatial Flexibility and New Working Conditions on Employees' Work-Life Balance: The Dutch Case In Dutch organisations, part-time work, flexible working hours and telehomeworking are viewed as solutions to problems employees encounter when they harmonise work and family life. Critics fear, however, that for employees that work under New Working Conditions, characterized by professional job autonomy, team working by project, management by objectives and strict deadlines, time-spatial flexibility may in fact rather enlarge existing combination problems. This paper, therefore, questions whether time-spatial flexibility will lead to a better work-life balance, and if so, does that also hold true for the category of New Employees. Employing data collected in 2003 among 807 Dutch employees it is concluded that time-spatial flexibility indeed affects the work-life balance of workers positively, regardless of them working under New Working Conditions or not. Generally, employees having a smaller part-time job (12-24 contractual working hours per week) experienced a better work-life balance. Especially female workers gained from more control over the temporal location of their work. Telehomeworkers and employees having a larger part-time job (25-35 hours per week) did not experience a better work-life balance. In the concluding section, the results of the study are discussed in the context of contemporary Dutch labour market developments.

scholarly journals Worklife Balance on Woman With Flexible and Non-Flexible Working Arrangement

2018 ◽  
pp. 698-705
Keyword(s):  
Time Management ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Working Hours ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Management Groups ◽  
Work Interference

The purpose of this study is to analyze the differences of work-life balance between women working with flexible working hours and women working with non-flexible working hours. The objects of this research are the working and married women with two different time management groups; the flexible group and the rigid/fixed group. The data collection method applied in this study is the purposive sampling method with the samples consisting of the women working as lecturers, insurance employees, bank employees and civil servants. The data used in this study are the primary data collected from the questionnaires. This study used the independent sample t-test, and the results show that there are differences of work life balance between women working with flexible working hours and women working with inflexible working hours. The dimension that differentiates these two groups is on work interference with personal life (WIPL) dimension in which the women in the flexible group could freely choose and use their time to work so that they can balance their time used for their family and their job.

scholarly journals Significance of Flexible Working Hours on Work Life Balance

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (05) ◽  
pp. 32-34
Author(s):  
A.Amritha Asst.Prof ◽  
Prof. D. V. Ramana ◽  
Dr.T.Narayana Reddy
Keyword(s):  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Working Hours ◽  
Flexible Working

scholarly journals Surgical leadership within rapidly changing working conditions in Germany

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Schmitz-Rixen ◽  
Reinhart T. Grundmann
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Employee Performance ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Physician Assistants ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Surgical Department ◽  
Chief Physician

AbstractIntroductionAn overview of the requirements for the head of a surgical department in Germany should be given.Materials and methodsA retrospective literature research on surgical professional policy publications of the last 10 years in Germany was conducted.ResultsSurveys show that commercial influences on medical decisions in German hospitals have today become an everyday, predominantly negative, actuality. Nevertheless, in one survey, 82.9% of surgical chief physicians reported being very satisfied with their profession, compared with 61.5% of senior physicians and only 43.4% of hospital specialists. Here, the chief physician is challenged. Only 70% of those surveyed stated that they could rely on their direct superiors when difficulties arose at work, and only 34.1% regarded feedback on the quality of their work as sufficient. The high distress rate in surgery (58.2% for all respondents) has led to a lack in desirability and is reflected in a shortage of qualified applicants for resident positions. In various position papers, surgical residents (only 35% describe their working conditions as good) demand improved working conditions. Chief physicians are being asked to facilitate a suitable work-life balance with regular working hours and a corporate culture with participative management and collegial cooperation. Appreciation of employee performance must also be expressed. An essential factor contributing to dissatisfaction is that residents fill a large part of their daily working hours with non-physician tasks. In surveys, 70% of respondents stated that they spend up to ≥3 h a day on documentation and secretarial work.DiscussionThe chief physician is expected to relieve his medical staff by employing non-physician assistants to take care of non-physician tasks. Transparent and clearly structured training to achieve specialist status is essential. It has been shown that a balanced work-life balance can be achieved for surgeons. Family and career can be reconciled in appropriately organized departments by making use of part-time and shift models that exclude 24-h shifts and making working hours more flexible.

WORK–LIFE BALANCE IN THE CURRENT JAPANESE CONTEXT

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 57-64
Author(s):  
Akizumi Tsutsumi
Keyword(s):  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Conditions ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Medical Specialties ◽  
Long Working Hours ◽  
Family Work ◽  
Overtime Work ◽  
Work Style

Background: Work style reform in Japan is under way in response to a predicted shortfall in the workforce owing to the country’s low birth rate and high longevity, health problems due to excessive working hours, and the need for diversification of employment. A legal limit for physicians’ overtime work will be introduced in 2024. Objectives: This study examines the work–life balance among Japan’s doctors in the context of ongoing work style reform. Methodology: The study applied included selective reviews of demographic shifts, legislation against long working hours, and trends in doctors’ participation in the labor force. Results: Japan’s doctors work long hours, which creates a conflict between their working and private lives. The proportion of female doctors in Japan is the lowest among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Employment trends among women doctors by age group show an M-curve: many quit their jobs upon marriage or childbirth. Gender role stereotyping has led male Japanese doctors to devote themselves entirely to their professions and working excessively long hours: they leave all family work to their female partners. This stereotyping obliges female doctors to undertake household chores in addition to their career tasks, which makes it difficult for them to re-enter their careers. Because of the harsh working conditions (including long working hours), there has been a decline in newly graduated doctors in some medical specialties. Conclusions: For sustainable, effective health care in Japan, it is necessary to improve the work conditions for Japan’s doctors towards achieving work–life harmony.

scholarly journals Flexible Work Arrangements and Their Impact on the Employee Performance of Egyptian Private University Employees: (A Case Study on the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport)

2021 ◽  
Vol 04 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Eshak ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Employee Performance ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Work Arrangements ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
The Impact

This study aimed to analyse the impact of flexible work arrangements on the employee performance of employees in private Egyptian universities in Alexandria, mediated by work-life balance (applied to the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport). institutions to retain talented people, raise the efficiency of employee performance, and thus raise the efficiency of institutional performance and competitive capabilities of organizations. The researcher used the descriptive analytical method and the questionnaire as a tool for data collection, to measure the impact of flexible work arrangements (focusing on reducing working hours, benefits provided to employees, work policies towards parenting) on the work-life balance, and the extent of the impact of all this on raising the efficiency of employees' employee performance. A stratified random sample of 423 employees was used, and the data collected was analysed using SPSS and AMOS statistical software. The findings revealed a positive relationship between flexible work arrangements (reduced working hours, benefits provided to employees, and work policies toward parenting) and employee performance, as well as a positive relationship between flexible work arrangements and work-life balance, as well as a positive relationship between work-life balance and employee performance, and the researcher recommends implementing such policies.The recommendations also include the need to review current labour laws before legislators, and update them in line with contemporary technological development and the requirement to achieve a balance between the requirements of life and work. This study also recommends the adoption of reducing working hours as one of the flexible work policies offered by organisations to employees. The study concludes that flexible work arrangements and programmes are in fact a competitive tool that organisations can use to increase loyalty, improve performance, achieve commitment and job satisfaction, which enhances the organization's productivity.

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