How Cuddly is Your Legislature?

by Brian Weberg

The New York Times ran an interesting story last week in its lifestyle section titled "Who's Cuddly Now? Law Firms."  It described a movement in some law firms, both large and small, to adapt their organizational culture to "embrace the mantra of work-life balance," reporting that despite being an "unbending, tradition-bound profession," that "law firms have been forced to rethink long-standing ways of doing business, if they are to remain fully competitive."  Hmmm.  Unbending and tradition-bound.  It sounded a little familiar.  Some firms, the article said, are actually doing away with the age-old concept of the billable hour.  Wow.

One key reason cited for this unexpected challenge to tradition in law firms is generational change in the workplace.  "On the one end of the spectrum are baby boomers, nearing retirement and mindful of the flexible schedules that did not exist at the start of their careers.  At the other end are Gen Y workers, some nearing 30 and want a life."  Something was really starting to sound familiar to me. 

In a recent post to The Thicket, I pondered the coming "gully washer" of staff retirements, the need for state legislatures to prepare for a new regime of staff leaders and raised questions about how a new generation of employees will fit into the existing culture of the legislative workplace.  It interests me that, as the Times reports, that "even accounting firms, of all places" are attempting internal cultural shifts to accommodate generational change. 

What about state legislatures?  Are they in the same boat?

Of course, it may not be fair to compare accounting or law firms to legislatures.  Indeed, it's not uncommon for lawyers to leave the pressure of traditional law firms to work for the legislature, citing a trade-off of income for work-life relief.  Still, legislative employment is an unusual occupation, and there are plenty of bill drafting lawyers out there who have not had much of a Christmas holiday in a few years.  And there is no shortage of legislators and staff who reach a point of exhaustion at the end of a long session, sacrificing time with family, friends and careers...and perhaps their health. 

Many legislative staff agencies are becoming concerned about the impending loss of their staff leaders to retirement.  It seems there should be similar attention and perhaps concern directed toward the traditions, practices and culture of these workplaces (and the legislative processes that drive them) with reflection on how they impact work-life balance and the needs and expectations of the Gen Y staffer and legislator. 

What, if anything, is your legislature doing to address the work-life balance issue?  Tell The Thicket about your innovations and whether you think they are working by adding a comment below or clicking on "Contact us" in the right column.  How cuddly is your legislature?

Comments

[Tim Rice]

Having finally commented on your previous post, I'll chime in here as well. I think you're asking valid questions about the legislative work environment. If we have large numbers of baby boomers approaching retirement and much smaller numbers of potential Gen Y replacements who value a work/life balance uncommon to the legislative work environment and also may not place a high value on the legislative institution, who do we expect to fill those vacancies, and how long do we think they'll stick around before moving somewhere else more to their liking?

I can't say that I have any innovations to offer. Our staff is largely information technology workers. While we can't match private sector compensation, we do try to stay within range. We offer a decent benfits package and compensation for overtime. We try to accommodate personal lives, and our workplace is collegial. We attempt to keep up with technology (within reason as dictated by its applicability to our users), which keeps staff engaged. We offer training, and we encourage experimentation.

The question for me is whether that will be enough to matter to a new generation. Our staff of 34 ranges from one person in their late 20's to one in their late 50's, with the big lump of the bell curve squarely in the mid-40's. Four are within a couple years of retirement eligibility, but most are over 10 years away. So we have some time, but we need younger workers soon to give them time to develop.

Our last five twenty-something hires tell an interesting tale. Four had finished a master's degree in information technology from a local university; the fifth was in process. One left after two years and a baby to be closer to family. One left after one year, having decided the IT field wasn't a good fit. One stayed for a year and a half until getting engaged to someone in another state. One left after two years to get married and move to another state. The last one left after four years and a baby to be closer to family and pursue a dream job opportunity (starting a winery).

On the other hand, our recent hires who are in their late 30's and into their 40's have stuck and are pretty happy. They like the work and the environment and the relative job security.

I realize that's a small sample and rather anecdotal, so I hesitate to draw much from it. But it does have me wondering what we can do to attract and retain members of Gen Y.

[Brian Weberg]

Thanks for you comments and observations. One of the factors that makes this subject tough is the diversity of legislatures...their number of staff, organizational variability and culture of partisan or nonpartisan employment. I think your observation about the differences in 30 year old versus 40 year old employees is interesting. Seems to me that in my day, we were starting to look at security issues in our 30s. Is 40 the new 30?