Survey says childless women lawyers "most productive"

[Daddster]

According to this Canadian survey
the most productive lawyers are:

1. women without children,
2. fathers,
3. men without children,
4. and finally, mothers.

This is of course utter bollocks for the simple reason that they equate billable hours with productivity.

Women who have chosen not to children have no ties, so they can work silly hours without complaint. Fathers who work full-time will generally have some for of support network at home so don't need to go shopping, do the washing etc.

THE BIG BUT is that just 1-3 are there longer, it does not mean that they are more productive. Mothers generally have to work within tight deadlines and don't waste time surfing the net and doing all the other rubbish people do at work.

Sorry, forgot the link.

No 1. does not surprise me as woment are the most driven people I have ever met. If women are the primary carers, I suspect I would agree with 4 too (and I am in this position!). I am surprised about 2 and 3, in my experience, they would be the other way around.

I think the daddies who have non-working wives realise somewhat belatedly that they have to get the money in, and then put in the hours

I don't think it's all true though. 6 months after I went back to work after DS1 I was the one who had to go round all the assistants to tell them they might be in the office all hours while I headed home, but my chargeable hours were still higher than theirs, what the f* were they doing all day and they certainly had capacity to help out on the big job that had just come in. Fortunately it was a law firm not a popularity contest

I'm afraid I agree, up to a point. I am a working (pg, no children yet). Law is often a long-hours business - everyone knows that before they come into it. We have a number of working mothers and I'm afraid their solution to work which must be done urgently is to dump it on colleagues and never return the favour.

Another favourite is to disappear for half-days for Sports Day or Nativity Plays and not take holiday for it.

Sorry for the rant-ette, but it rings true for me and I'm sick of getting dumped on!

...mpothers are more likely to leave work on time.
I am part time so my logged hours on my timesheet are obviously less BUT in that time I think I do more actual work and contribute more than many full timers.

Seabright, your time will come though .

It depends how they measure productivity - is it 'billing hours' or actual work done? I now work 35-odd hours a week or rather I am paid for that. In reality I probably do more or less than that. I often spend time on the net instead of 'working'. If I was at home, I wouldn't have that luxury.

I think I was more productive in terms of getting things done in the workplace when I worked 20 hours a week. I barely sat down from teh moment I got in til the second I left. Now I've got time to gossip, drink tea til it comes out of my ears and stil get congratulated by my boss for my willingness to muck in and get things done. I think full-time workers often get credit for merely being in the office "working", or "looking available for work" as opposed to part-time people knocking off on time who have actually "worked". IYSWIM.

SSB - yes, the thought had occured to me, but I don't want to behave just as badly as the others though.

no-one tell xenia fgs

Gosh Seabright, my firm would never tolerate the dumping. If you don't do it at work you take it home with you and work as late as it takes to finish it!

what will you do then Seabright when your PFB has a sick day or sports day? why is it behaving badly to be there for your kids? It might seem like your mother-colleagues are dumping on you, but it is up to your superiors and managers to make the job doable by people with children. They're the ones dumping on you TBH by not facilitating good relations between parents and non-parents.

hehehe Fio!

I don't work in law but have certainly never worked anywhere where anyone can take time off for any reason without using annual leave. SOunds like an odd, badly managed company.

btw seabright, parents with kids under 5 have the right to take unpaid leave for such eventualities - perhaps they're not being paid for it but choose not to share that info with you.

you will indeed wonder how you'll manage if you go back to work since you'll probably find out like the rest of us that school holidays are 13 weeks and most working people get only 6 weeks max.

So you'll want to use up all of your 6 being with your kids, put them in childcare the rest of the time, and then when they're ill, you'll need to take unpaid leave like the rest of us.

I think that we have children and then realise there's more to life than work. I certainly don't work in the same way that I do pre children. I am however productive. My utilisation is high because I work like a mad thing when I'm there. What slips a bit is the non chargeable stuff. I'm far more likely to duck out of a drinks event and I'm not jumping up and down to get involved in CSR stuff which eats into my work time. But I've also accepted that there are limits to where I will go at my firm now that my family comes first.

I was going to preen until i saw I was 4th

There is no right to unpaid leave for sportsdays etc though Monkeybird. The right is only for domestic emergencies. Those people are taking the mickey.

people who take time off for sportsdays etc either without negotiating it with senior managers/HR and using up some of their paid or unpaid leave entitlement, or without negotiating reciprocal working arrangements with colleagues ARE taking the mickey, I agree.

But taking time off for your kid's sportsday or christmas show is not in itself taking the mickey.

they'll have, what maybe 7 to 12 of these days, perhaps 2-3 times a year, so 14-36 days max in their lifetime. you go ahead and miss those precious moments cos you're caught up in some notion of workaholism and anti-child culture, but I will walk on burning coals to see my kid trip over in the egg and spoon...

agree entirely. ds1 made such a great donkey's bottom bless him

I don't think it's behaving badly to " be there for your kids". I do think it's behaving badly to dump your work on someone else so you can do that.

Law firms are partnerships, so if a partner chooses to behave like this, they're the boss, there's nothing you can do.

People tell me they are very happy to work on my files. They say they get more exposure to better quality work and more responsibility because I am not around to steal the glory. They know when they can get me when I am not in the office, and when they can't, and how to get hold of me.

Maybe they are sucking up, and maybe it is also at least partly true.

Let's see what your solution is when your DC arrives! Hope it all goes well, BTW, leaving work for your first maternity leave can be incredibly stressful.

When you dont have children and especially if you are single the big firms make it very easy to work long hours. You chat in the day as it doesnt matter if you dont finish because you know you can make it up in the evening. You eat at work because theres a cafe and all your friends are working there and working late too. God typing that makes me realise how sad my life used to be!

Generally I found the working mothers focused, didnt chat or gossip or network during the day, got the work done and left. So although they may not have put in the long hours they were more productive.