Mar 9

Written by: newseditor
Wednesday, March 09, 2011 

Lander & Rogers has revised its parental leave policy and now offers staff to up to 20 weeks' paid leave, setting a new high watermark for the legal sector.

The firm has introduced a sliding paid parental leave scale, where a parent who is the primary carer for a child will be entitled to 18 weeks paid leave after five years service and 20 weeks paid leave after 10 years service.

This sets a new industry benchmark among Australia’s medium and large sized law firms.

The new policy reinforces the firm's staff-focussed culture and is designed to build on the firm's already excellent staff retention rates. (see "Relevant Statistics" below).

Chief Executive Partner, Andrew Willder said "The commitment of our staff to the firm is reflected in our strong retention rates and we are keen to ensure that the firm acknowledges their continued loyalty."

"Our firm aspires to be a market leader in relation to workplace flexibility, and we see paid parental leave as a key component of this. 70% of all Lander & Rogers' staff are female and 31% of our partners are female. Our new policy will help promote the retention of female lawyers into the partnership ranks and sustain the longevity of service among our female support staff."

Partner, Jane Koelmeyer, who has recently returned from 12 months parental leave, said "Our staff attrition rate is already one of the lowest among law firms and this policy further reinforces the value we place on our staff, as well as acknowledging their family commitments."

The firm's parental leave payments are in addition to the Government's recently introduced Paid Parental Leave (PPL) Scheme. Lander & Rogers staff who qualify for the Government's PPL Scheme will be able to receive the PPL payments as well as any paid parental leave they are entitled to under the firm's policy.

The firm's policy applies to all staff (legal and support) and is available to the person who is the primary carer for the child.

As part of its commitment to workplace flexibility, the firm also supports various other flexible work arrangements, including:

• Flexible work hours e.g. compressed work week
• Job share
• Part time work
• Work from home
• Leave of absence – up to a maximum of two years
• Additional purchased annual leave – up to a maximum of 15 days

RELEVANT STATISTICS

• Lander & Rogers consistently has one of the lowest turnover rates in the legal industry. In 2010, our turnover rate for legal staff was 4.6% (7% for all staff).
  
  
• Over the past five years the average age of Lander & Rogers' female staff who have given birth is 34.2 years, reflecting an upward trend.
  
  
• In a recent independently administered internal Lander & Rogers staff survey comprising more than 300 respondents, over 90% said that their work arrangements provided sufficient flexibility to meet personal and family responsibilities. 

FURTHER INFORMATION

Terry Kallenbach | Director of Business Development & Marketing
+61 3 9269 9197
+61 439 6000 88
tkallenbach@landers.com.au 

Jane Koelmeyer | Partner, Family & Relationship Law
jkoelmeyer@landers.com.au