Pinsent Masons trials burnout alerts and early Friday finish

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Pinsent Masons LLP is trialling a new time-tracking system designed to alert management when employees are consistently working long hours, following the tragic death of partner Vanessa Ford.

The law firm, which employs 3,000 people globally, hopes the alert system will help to manage intense workloads and reduce stress among its staff. Ford, who worked 18-hour days on the “all-consuming” sale of Everton FC, died in September 2023 after a severe mental health crisis.

A spokesperson for Pinsent Masons stated: “It is still early days, but using technology like this will help increase our visibility of colleague workloads, the time being spent on client work and those people who have capacity and can help busy teams.”

In addition to the time-tracking system, Pinsent Masons has introduced enhanced mental health and wellbeing training and increased promotion of external support services available to employees. These changes come in response to consultations with clients and staff about better balancing work and family life following the coroner’s ruling on Ford’s death.

Pinsent Masons is also piloting a compressed working week, allowing all employees to finish by Friday lunchtime without reduced pay. The firm will review the scheme’s results at the end of August.

The managing partner of Pinsent Masons, Laura Cameron, has discussed work/life balance with other law firm leaders and the firm hosted discussions with rival firms, reaffirming its commitment to the Mindful Business Charter. This initiative, launched in 2018 by Pinsent Masons, Addleshaw Goddard and Barclays, aims to tackle unpredictable hours and reduce unnecessary stress in the legal profession.

The Mindful Business Charter recently highlighted that lawyers are twice as likely to experience suicidal thoughts compared to the general population, with lack of sleep and disconnection from loved ones contributing to mental distress.

Find out more about work/life balance in the legal profession.

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