I went to a goodbye party for a friend from my former firm last night.
The firm is hemorrhaging associates, so apparently the partner I worked with the most (who is the managing partner of the US offices) was told to give a State of the Firm address to the associates in the NY office.
So he starts with the status of the firm -- new offices that have been opened, how the firm has been doing financially, that kind of stuff. Then he turns to the associate specific/pep talk part. The first slide -- I shit you not -- is captioned "There Is No Such Thing as Work/Life Balance." Another was "If You're Working Hard, That's Not Enough." Apparently the talking points for these slides are that to do well in the profession/at the firm -- well, everybody works very hard so unless you're working harder than everyone else you're just an average associate and don't have a future. And yes, he takes his vacation but he works full days during them so it's okay to take it. And yes, your spouse and kids will get pissed off, but you can get very wealthy if you do everything right so that will make up for it. One of my friends who was sitting in the back mutterd "Somewhere in Ireland, [v's] ears are ringing like crazy and she can't figure out why" and apparently everyone around him got a good laugh over that.
This partner, by the way, is one who boasts that his three kids were all nice enough to be born in the middle of the night so he didn't have to miss work for their births. He skipped his daughter's graduation from Colu.mbia (so just up the street) to do witness prep. On a Sunday.
I was SO pissed that nobody emailed me immediately to tell me the full story. Out of the country, smout of the country.
That's crazy! I am glad you were able to escape from that madness v. And I am a little surprised that the partner would even feel like he had the time to make babies, hah.
My randoms are truly random:
- Do people really use 2 or 3 clicks of deodorant for each underarm? That seems like a lot to me. - Why do randos already have characters when I start new games with them in Trivia Crack? What gives? I just started the game.
v I would not have survived a week there. OMG! So he was told to give a presentation to help retain associates and he decided to do the opposite? And what the hell was that reference to you even supposed to mean?
v I would not have survived a week there. OMG! So he was told to give a presentation to help retain associates and he decided to do the opposite? And what the hell was that reference to you even supposed to mean?
The reference to me is that I would enjoy the story immensely and would be dying that I wasn't a fly on the wall for it . They know how much I love that kind of firm gossip (and that I'm happy with my new job so would get good laughs out of this fuckery).
From what I was told, yes, he was supposed to give a morale boosting/don't read into half of the office leaving presentation and went with the "work harder, you entitled disappointments" approach instead. He even talked to two of my friends from my old practice groups to vet it ahead of time, and got "you know you can't really say that, right?"s from them, and he went with it anyway.
v I would not have survived a week there. OMG! So he was told to give a presentation to help retain associates and he decided to do the opposite? And what the hell was that reference to you even supposed to mean?
The reference to me is that I would enjoy the story immensely and would be dying that I wasn't a fly on the wall for it . They know how much I love that kind of firm gossip (and that I'm happy with my new job so would get good laughs out of this fuckery).
From what I was told, yes, he was supposed to give a morale boosting/don't read into half of the office leaving presentation and went with the "work harder, you entitled disappointments" approach instead. He even talked to two of my friends from my old practice groups to vet it ahead of time, and got "you know you can't really say that, right?"s from them, and he went with it anyway.
Oh, ha, I misread in my baby induced exhaustion that the partner referenced you in the presentation...my bad. So glad you are out of there!
OMG, v, this sounds like one of those terrible movies they show on the Hallmark Channel around Christmas. Maybe he'll change his ways after being visited by three ghosts during the night.
The reference to me is that I would enjoy the story immensely and would be dying that I wasn't a fly on the wall for it . They know how much I love that kind of firm gossip (and that I'm happy with my new job so would get good laughs out of this fuckery).
From what I was told, yes, he was supposed to give a morale boosting/don't read into half of the office leaving presentation and went with the "work harder, you entitled disappointments" approach instead. He even talked to two of my friends from my old practice groups to vet it ahead of time, and got "you know you can't really say that, right?"s from them, and he went with it anyway.
Oh, ha, I misread in my baby induced exhaustion that the partner referenced you in the presentation...my bad. So glad you are out of there!
I don't think you misread really -- the way I wrote it was incredibly confusing. Have edited.
Yes, so glad I am out of there so I can laugh at it from afar (and many of my friends there are thisclose to job offers so I don't have to feel that bad for them).
I spend a lot of time wishing that the incredible mismangement runs the New York office into the ground. And hey, last time I wished hard about that happening to a firm it worked!!!
"work harder, you entitled disappointments" So I guess everyone present for that morale booster will be now sending out their resumes? What an impressive display of piss poor management style. Does all of the upper management share his viewpoint? It amazes me when such supposedly brilliant people have no idea how to, at a minimum, pretend to be human to others.
DS is really pissing me off. He was supposed to come home last weekend, but changed his mind. Last night, he called and then slid "The festival I was going to was canceled, so it probably makes more sense if I come home next weekend. I know if feels like I keep postponing, and I want to come home and see you guys, but I think next weekend would be better..." into the conversation. More sense to whom? For what reason? It doesn't feel like you keep postponing, you are actually postponing. Better how? I was so madandsad, but I didn't say anything. I just kept saying, "Okay" and "That's fine," in a peppy, yet hopefully, passive aggressive tone. I find it funny that he never missed the weekends he was supposed to come home last year when he was in a dorm room using a communal bathroom, but now that he lives in an apartment, he can't be bothered to come home. I told H that he is a real user.
I am however, endlessly entertained by how frustrated he is with his roommate being messy, because he is not nearly as neat as he seems to think he is.
That's crazy! I am glad you were able to escape from that madness v. And I am a little surprised that the partner would even feel like he had the time to make babies, hah.
My randoms are truly random:
- Do people really use 2 or 3 clicks of deodorant for each underarm? That seems like a lot to me. - Why do randos already have characters when I start new games with them in Trivia Crack? What gives? I just started the game.
My deodorant doesn't have clicks, but I'm sure I'd only use one.
Lol because they went first. Whoever goes first, plays and if that person win characters, by the time you start, you will see them. Sometimes, your opponent may go first but not win any characters, so you see nothing. Other times, you go first. Trivia Crack will not let the person going first win more than 3 characters before stopping the play and giving the opponent a turn.
(I am now laughing at my deep thoughts on deodorant for the day.)
I'm actually quite glad you brought it up, because you reminded me that (a) I left my deodorant in my yoga bag here at work since Wednesday and forgot to put it in my purse yesterday (I used MH's Arid on Thursday), and (b) I don't remember whether or not I actually put on any deodorant this morning.
I really am cracking up over the deodorant, hahaha. I am relieved to know it's not just me who wonders these things konapoppy! And glad to be of service mbcdefg!
sfy - Ahhh! I never thought that they would have gone first. I figured I was the one initiating the game so I was the first. I would get all mad that they already had a head start. Too bad for them because I usually zip through those games.
I'm usually pretty happy and positive. I can leave work and work and see work for what it is - 40, err 50ish hours of my life each week, but not my entire existence. However, these past few weeks have been brutal. I swear, all my clients do are complain. Not to pat myself on the back, but I'm really good at what I do. I've been working miracles for some really horrible cases. My clients will e-mail me with petty bullshit on FedEx delays. It's really frustrating me. Is it expected that there will never be an acknowledgment or thank you for a job well done? Ugh!
"work harder, you entitled disappointments" So I guess everyone present for that morale booster will be now sending out their resumes? What an impressive display of piss poor management style. Does all of the upper management share his viewpoint? It amazes me when such supposedly brilliant people have no idea how to, at a minimum, pretend to be human to others.
I should also say, that part of the motivation for the speech was that people have complained about lack of transparency, so the firm thought it would be helpful to have a meeting where management talks to the associates so they're more in the loop. I guess he really took that to heart!
Law firms are supposed to have a ton of attrition -- it's part of the model. If a firm hires 50 first year associates, they'll hope that maybe 5 of them are partnership material and will be promoted 10 years down the road, but the other 45 need to get off the bus before then. So overall, I doubt he or the firm really cares that much that people have left. The NY office has been open for about 10 years now and they've only made one associate partner during that time (of let's say 80 associates who have worked in that office at one time or another). I doubt he cares that most people are sending out resumes because he'll probably be happy that they'll leave without him having to lay them off/pay severance -- but I do think he'll be floored when the one remaining associate that he sees as partnership material leaves (hopefully in the next few weeks). That's how this backfires.
v, I knew I was in trouble in law school when we had some function where partners from the top law firms came and had dinner with us. I think it was my first year. The attorney at my table was bragging about all the major events in her life she had missed because she was working. I specifically remember her proudly talking about always missing her kids' birthdays. I sat there with my mouth hanging open, thinking what have I done??!!
Ugh, that is terrible. I would not be able to work for a firm like that, either. I feel so fortunate that my firm is realizing that to retain associates, they need to allow for flexibility and work on work-life balace. The last couple of years, they have rolled out a bunch of alternative schedule/career track programs and given us all home office equipment to make telecommuting easier. Just about everyone in a big firm works hard; pressuring anyone to work even harder is just a recipe for malcontent.
Post by beachdweller on Oct 2, 2015 11:05:53 GMT -5
It's funny after you leave that environment how truly insane you realize it was on the other end. I left biglaw to go in-house 3.5 years ago and am astonished at the stress and workload I carried for my 8 biglaw years. I work 50 - 55 hours per week now and have a pretty stressful position, but it is NOTHING compared to my prior work life. Can't imagine having that workload/stress, then getting a "pep talk" to tell me to work harder!
(Possible) Confession: I love my chiropractor. I feel like she really does make a difference. But she uses ART which I think is a lot better than the old school way I think most people associate with chiros.
It's funny after you leave that environment how truly insane you realize it was on the other end. I left biglaw to go in-house 3.5 years ago and am astonished at the stress and workload I carried for my 8 biglaw years. I work 50 - 55 hours per week now and have a pretty stressful position, but it is NOTHING compared to my prior work life. Can't imagine having that workload/stress, then getting a "pep talk" to tell me to work harder!
This reminds me -- another bullet point was "Embrace Stress."
I realized that it was insane when I was there (and getting more and more insane by the day) but I do wonder how I survived a decade of that nonsense. And it has taken a long time to recover and get used to a non-abusive work environment -- I still think every time my boss asks me to come to his office that I am going to get yelled at for something. Usually he's just trying to figure out a feature of his iPhone.