êtes vous du soir ou du matin ?
Les avocats de chez Morrison Foerster ont reçu un petit message de leur managing partner ce matin à 8:00 h …
As we move into the summer, I thought it would be a good time to remind everyone about the expectations in this office about when the work day begins. We are, at core, a client service institution, both internally and externally. This means that is we need to plan our schedules to meet our clients’ needs and expectations. More importantly, the strength and value of our work depends on being able to communicate with and reply upon our colleagues and if folks are simply not around, that is harder to do. While I recognize that the changing face of our technology has allowed us to accomplish this in new and novel ways, it is still an important part of our business that each of us can depend upon and interact with our co-workers on a consistent basis.
In light of this, it is very important that folks get to work on time. If it was up to me, that would mean jumping jacks at 8:00 a.m. in the lobby. I am not sure, however, that I have convinced everyone that that is the right approach.
Our office’s work day does begin, however, no later than 9:30 a.m. each morning. Therefore, as a general matter, everyone should plan their early morning activities so that you are in the office ready to go at that time, i.e., rolling in at 10:00, 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. on a regular basis is not acceptable. I realize that there always exceptions and I respect that, as professionals, we are able to manage our own time. Therefore, I encourage each Department and Practice Group to address these issues to make sure that we are all working together to deliver our best work.
J’avoue que je reste assez perplexe sur la teneur du message. Quel intérêt à venir à 8h du matin ? les clients sont vraisemblablement dans leur lit et ne vont pas appeler pour demander frénétiquement un projet de traité de fusion sous 48 h (ils font ça le vendredi soir, généralement vers 19h30).
9:30 semble une heure raisonnable pour arriver au bureau, surtout si on est parti la veille… Pour les urgences susceptibles d’intervenir avant, le Blackberry et le téléphone semblent à même de pouvoir y coper sans besoin d’être physiquement présent au bureau, en train d’écouler les doses de nespresso (what else…) du cabinet en attendant que quelque chose se passe.
En France, les avocats ayant le statut de collaborateurs libéraux dans la majorité des cabinets, ils sont, en théorie, totalement libres de leurs horaires et sont soumis à une obligation de résultat (nombre d’heures facturées, satisfaction du client, etc.). Avec la crise, le travail se fait plus rare et il est clair que certains arrivent plus tard au cabinet et le quittent plus tôt.
Est-ce mal de laisser les avocats vivre un peu pendant la crise ?
