Marcus Carbone (pictured above) is a solicitor in the Sydney office at DCC* Endorsed Employer for Women, Colin Biggers & Paisley. He is also a professional rugby union player, having played as a loose forward and lock for Southern Districts in the Shute Shield and the Greater Sydney Rams in the National Rugby Championship (NRC).
CBP allows all its staff to negotiate their own flexible working arrangements. This enables Mr Carbone to leave early two days a week to attend rugby training.
He also took a break from law to expand his sporting career overseas, recently returning from an eight-month stint playing for Lyons Piacenza in Italy. The firm supported this move and made sure he had a definite role to come back to.
Mr Carbone may have taken his lead from CBP’s managing partner Dunstan de Souza and deputy managing partner Nick Crennan. Both set an example by working flexible hours, although they do not have formal arrangements.
The firm has also been recognized by DCC Jobs, a social enterprise that helps women find jobs in companies that rank well on factors such as gender diversity, flexible working and empowerment.
CBP is the first and only law firm to have received a Flex Able certification from DCC*. According to the firm’s profile on the DCC website, 26 per cent of lawyers at CBP have flexible working arrangements.
“CBP have set the bar pretty high with flexible work arrangements that are genuinely embedded in their culture – it is just the way they do things nowadays,” said Christina Smerdon, chief flex enabler at DCC.
“There is no confusion for new recruits who know that they can talk about making their role flexible upfront during the interview process.
“For CBP, becoming Australia’s first law firm to achieve the Flex Able certification was a natural next step to showcase their amazing workplace and that you can have a life and a family and a great career in law without sacrificing yourself along the way.”
Learn more about work/life balance at CBP here.
This article was originally published by Lawyer’s Weekly.
About the Flex Able Certification
Flexible working is not just for mothers returning to work but for those with other caring commitments, health reasons, sporting interests, people looking for an alternative to retirement and those pursuing side projects. Companies with the most engaged workforces offer flexibility and are focused on creating an inclusive culture where the reason for needing flexibility does not matter.
But how can you tell which employer is truly walking the talk when it comes to offering flexible work? DCC’s Flex Able Certification helps job seekers know what companies place a strong focus on flexibility in addition to being an employer of choice for women.
DCC* Flex Able Certified Employers include:
Learn more about the Flex Able Certification here.
*This article references Diversity City Careers or DCC. This is what WORK180 was known as when we first launched back in 2015. You can find out more about our story here.