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Taking into account the toll 24x7 WFH has had, Khaitan has recently introduced:

1. End of day and weekend to be respected unless something is extremely urgent. Timelines on client deliverables to be centered around the weekdays.

2. Reduced emails and calls from 8 PM on Friday to 8 AM on Monday. Each practice to schedule a complete 24 hours switch off period on Sat or Sun.

3. Two to three days of recuperation leave after end of a critical milestone on a transaction.

4. Special 15 day sick leave for COVID - over and above the 30 days of annual leaves.


While all of the above may seem reasonable for sustainability and mental health, it is disappointing how every single law firm had been avoiding these measures to line up their pockets from the extra billables at the cost of employee health and well-being. Kudos to Khaitan for showing the way!
So it took a first-year associate's life for the firm to finally acknowledge this problem. As with most HR policies at Khaitan, my guess is that this too will simply be a paper tiger.
At least they did acknowledge it but for what it's worth, policies give some semblance about what you value in life. Other firms do not even acknowledge it. Multiple concerns have been raised in our townhalls and "hum honge kamyab" sessions about deteriorating mental and physical health and the firm hasn't even approved a separate COVID leave, let alone Switch Off Period. If not for reality checks like these, firms would officially make their fee earners 24x7 till they all dropped dead "because someone else wants your job so bad". However, in the end, all you are left with is a bunch of mediocre people who are only putting with you because they don't know what else to do in life.
It's smarter to just apply to KCo.Dont expect such policies from a firm that cuts salaries citing business uncertainties due to pandemic and then you find the headlines of the promoters buying personal properties in the most expensive neighborhood of Mumbai.
What are these hum honge kamyab sessions,are they like a regular feature or is it like some motivational speaker thing.
Bhai, Khaitan me vacancy ho toh batana. If implemented, looks like the firm to join!
Yes, I certainly hope other firms learn from this and implement similar policies, rather than waiting for associates from their own firm to die before having to come up with policies like this.
Khaitan adopts a new motto: Duty unto death (sometimes literally)

P.S. Yes, this is a joke. Consider the value of your time before typing out a furious and elaborate reply. Downvotes will convey the same message pithily.
Not as long as partners are given the freedom not to be pushed around by those clients. It's startling to see the level to which most salaried/junior partners are afraid of disappointing a client's unreasonable expectation in the fear of backlash from their superior. If the client can't approach my boss who wouldn't wag his tail, only then can I confidently tell my client that they'll only get this deliverable during the weekday.
The policy itself says that all the switch off periods and respecting personal space is subject to client committments and urgent deliverables. It looks like HR wrote the policy to make a genuine change, but then the partners red-lined it and added "subject to urgent work" everywhere, rendering it meaningless. How is that different from the situation at any decent law firm today? If you're in a team that's making you consistently do non-urgent work over a weekend or late at night, leave! There are others out there not like that.

What would be great is for a policy to require that weekends are sacrosanct even if the client has some fake emergency (and no, internal deal timelines are not an emergency). Limit emergencies to statutory deadlines, client going to jail, court deadlines/hearings, major client board meetings, etc., and then you might actually get to use the switch off period.
A small but noticeable difference is visible - team had been working through weekends as usual for client deliverables, which is probably the case across firms. From this week, non critical work like providing comments on a weeks-long diligence or transaction documents are not being promised "over the weekend".

Calls are not being scheduled on Sat / Sun.

Of course, it may not be a no-work weekend, but hitting pause over even 50% of active matters is an improvement and gives much needed breathing space.
Kayko main koi partner kuch red line nahi kar sakta hai. Sab aasman mein hai. Pun intended.
While this is a welcome move, the implementation will be team to team basis and will rely heavily on how your seniors / partners choose to implement it. Ultimately, if there is money at stake nobody is going to take this stuff seriously if there is no larger cultural change implemented.

For those who think Khaitan is the go to firm because of this policy - think twice, they also implemented "work from home" and later it came out that many partners were forcing associates to come to office on an adhoc basis.

For those who think this is not a positive move - at least acceptance step 1 to actually fixing the problem.
Maybe Shardul Amarchand can take a cue from this and implement something similar instead of hosting USELESS mental health webinars. They think that people will get fixed by attending these webinars and all will be good. Not to forget 'attendance will be checked' emails are also sent to make sure that people attend such webinars. [...]
Agreed 100%. The management couldn't possibly sound more out of touch with ground realities here. Granted, they're better than some forms in some regards (the CRT has been extremely responsive to members of the firm who have been afflicted by COVID, and the firm policies are among the most progressive among the Tier 1s, when it comes to issues like resumption of working from office etc. - of which there has been no talk at all, unlike the morons at AZB), but the insane amount of work, and the complete lack of sensitivity to the personal needs of attorneys (particularly at the junior level) is appalling.

Needless to say, nobody has the balls to take this up with management (and this includes me, as well).
I am assuming crisis response team or something to that effect, at CAM we have CMT
May be Luthra should also adopt similar policies in order to stop the exodus. At least the retainers will have something to stay!
If this is really implemented, then a really great step. Atleast someone is taking care of their employees (or trying to). Our workplace has physical office running from july last year (come join or else resign). Gave wfh mid april this year but in a new turn of events, told all those who went home in wfh that no, come back to delhi ncr, only then we will pay you. Work of 2 weeks is nothing for us, we will not pay you. Come to delhi in this severe crisis, live alone, manage food, even die alone if you get covid but only then we will pay you your hard earned money. Till then, we are taking away all your wfh access.
I have recently contacted some people working there and they have confirmed this anonymously. What is this draconian behaviour? These people should learn to be humans first and then lawyers. @legally india, please reach out to the management and ask them comment on the same.
Management of KCO is on a wellness policy. Friday 8 pm post no phone. pls call them on Monday morning.
It’s a step in the right direction in light of recent circumstances, how it pans out and whether it is followed to the core, would depend on how senior partners and the management are firm in ensuring this.
Let’s be clear on one thing. It’s only a few chosen ones in Khaitan that are certified slave drivers with negative EQ. Most of (working) partnership is empathic to work life balance. But of course, like in typical Khaitan style, they won’t address or talk directly with the partners who are cultivating this culture, but come up with an overall policy, and will pussy foot the actual issue. There’s been a spate of resignation in Khaitan with more to follow (or where management is running from pillar to post convincing people to stay back). The question that one needs to answer is for how long will Haigreve have different policies for different teams within Khaitan?
It’s incredulous that a policy needs to be rolled out to remind people that personal space, weekends and off hours need to be respected. Working weekends as exceptions have become the rule - not just because of a genuine deadline but because of partners imposing false deadlines only to impress Haigreve.
What happens if this "policy" is not taken seriously by partners? Any punishment for non-compliance? Does a partner get named and shamed if he/she doesn't take this policy seriously?

Making a PDF file with commandments is very different from implementation which actually requires an educated change. While its brave that the issue has been acknowledged, I hope they review efficacy of implementation as well to see if the piece of paper made an actual difference.
It is not being implemented, as a caveat has been added to the policy that it is subject to urgent client work. As we all know, everything for a client is urgent, while in the first week it was followed, we are in the 2nd week and we are back to square one.

Seemed more like a PR exercise by the law firm after facing public pressure due to a variety of reasons. People are still getting work at odd hours and it is not like you can raise an issue as juniors are not aware about client timelines.

All hogwash to be honest and the policy has failed in its first month. Well Done πŸ‘
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