As trade mark attorney Rachel Havard looks forward to her second summer since joining Two IP after departing private practice, she reflects on the impact her new way of working has had on her work, her life and how the two now integrate together on her own terms.
I joined Two IP, not least to recover some work/life balance. This has certainly become a reality, as I have been freed from management responsibilities, time no longer has to be spent commuting and I do not have onerous time targets.
What I have really found myself with is a type of work/life integration, or work/life blending. This might not suit everyone, but it is here I have landed as most comfortable, after 18 months of my new way of working – a world apart from traditional private practice.
I no longer have a habit of working at weekends, but am ready to do so should something in my caseload specifically require it. Monday to Friday are designated as my work zone, but with flexibility on what hours are worked on those days. Every day begins with me getting outside for a country walk with my lovely rescue dog, and that really sets me up for the day.
The working week is no longer a mountain to be climbed. I do not feel constrained to be at my screen for the whole of a conventional working day (though often am as I am stimulated and enjoying my work), nor do I need to complete a time sheet to account for every unit of every day’s hours. I can give myself a gentler start on a Monday morning if I need to, which helps defeat the “Sunday scaries” feeling I used to get, and can finish a bit earlier on a Friday if I have plans to go somewhere. It is possible to be spontaneous.
It is easy to take time out for “life things”; to support family and friends, do the school run, have a long walk to gather my thoughts, or take the odd couple of hours outside on those rare occasions that the sun is shining! If I take some time out for life things in an afternoon, I can easily do more work in the evening, whilst still able to monitor emails throughout the day. I am able to spread my working hours across a week day, to really apply myself when I feel most energised, but step away for a bit when I don’t. What actually happens is that I will reflect on client matters as I do something else, and can often bring something new to their case when I am back at my desk.
In traditional private practice, I so needed time away for holidays, with at least a full week to switch off in the summer. The problem with that was that I had to work long hours before going on holiday, in order to clear the decks, then there was always a lot of work to catch up following my absence. Often holidays felt cancelled out by the before and aftermath, when those holidays had already been built up far too much beforehand.
Now, I much prefer and choose to take extended weekends to make up my summer holidays. It is so much easier to stay on top of things that way, and to enjoy a much greater variety of breaks. We go to music festivals, concerts, film festivals, visit family in rural Wales, and have a lot of fun touring round in a VW camper van. Sometimes, I might need to get involved in something work related on these short trips, but I don’t mind having work in my life every week, when I can have plenty of life in my weeks as well!
