Work Life Balance Lessons from Jefferson Wells

Nancy McNelis is an accountant by training who is a regional director with Jefferson Wells, a financial services firm that provides audit and other accounting services to clients nationwide. Before joining Jefferson Wells, McNelis routinely worked 60 to 70 hours a week plus weekends, with especially late nights to get out financial statements. Now she averages about 45 to 55 work hours a week.

McNelis explained that Jefferson Wells encourages work life balance in several ways. Consultants who work a long day, can leave early the next. About 30 percent of the consultants are part-time who take summers off, may be gone for a month or otherwise work a flexible schedule that allows them to accept assignments that fit their needs.  Such policies haven't slowed Jefferson Wells' growth - founded in 1995, the company now has nearly 50 offices located around the United States and Europe (see here for more information about the company).

On an individual level, McNelis has this advice for those seeking better balance: "don't sweat the small stuff. Don't let e-mail control you. Pick times of day to sort through it. Realize that everything is not a crisis and priority. Don't try to control it all. Trust that the people you hire can work things out themselves."

See the full interview with McNelis here. The insights will be helpful to individual lawyers seeking greater balance and law firms exploring ideas to improve their attorneys' work life balance.