Ashtons Legal adopts pioneering flexible paid time off policy

Following a trial period of almost nine months, Ashtons Legal has made a bespoke paid time off (PTO) policy a permanent feature of the firm’s benefits package.The underlying aim is to be outcome focused in approach and to position Ashtons Legal as legal employer of choice in East Anglia.

In Spring 2015 the firm introduced a new, much more flexible, approach to paid time off which sees the traditional annual leave policy being replaced by a policy which allows all salaried employees to take holiday reflecting their own needs and those of the business, rather than being constrained by a set number of days per year.

Paid Time Off policies (PTOs) have been around for sometime, but it is believed this is the first such policy in the East Anglian professional services community. Netflix, Virgin, Groupon and Survey Monkey operate similar policies with their ideology being that they should focus on what people get done, not how many hours or days are worked.In addition to providing more flexibility in relation to holidays, the new approach also encompasses compassionate leave for bereavement and study leave for those enhancing their professional skills.

Since implementing the policy, feedback from recruitment agents has been extremely positive, one quoting the firm as ‘forward thinking’ and ‘having an innovative approach that demonstrates the level of trust and individual responsibility you have for your staff’. This feedback bodes well for Ashtons Legal in its quest to become legal employer of choice in East Anglia and the firm are pleased to offer employees seven out of the ten most desired benefits as voted in a recent Times survey.

Ashtons Legal CEO, Edward O’Rourke, says: “We firmly believe that law firms wishing to thrive in the future need to be innovative, both in the way they attract and retain legal talent and in the way in which they meet clients’ legal needs. Our focus needs to move towards overall productivity, client satisfaction and results rather than the number of holiday days taken so I am delighted to see that since introducing the PTO policy we have seen staff productivity being up in the first six months of the financial year compared to the same time last year.”