In a move that has raised eyebrows in the legal community, the leadership at Simpson Thacher’s London office announced that the firm will no longer be organizing holiday coverage for the week after Christmas and has even cancelled vacation carryover requests. The announcement has been made public via a piece attracted the attention of both legal professionals and media.
Tom Lloyd, a partner from the firm’s real estate finance team, kicked off the announcement with an email. The email initially offered a “generous” concession, allowing the team to work from home on December 21, to accommodate their holiday preparations. However, the tone of the email turned decidedly more demanding, as Lloyd effectively canceled cover for vacation leave from December 27-29 and for the first week of January. Unless urgent work comes in, employees are expected to carry their laptops wherever they go during their holidays.
Lloyd’s email wasn’t about a covert attempt by the lawyers to sneak in a free holiday; it essentially denies those with unused vacation days the chance to utilise them during the quietest week of the year. Ironically, this could have been advantageous for the firm, but it seems the company did not see this potential benefit. Lloyd also voiced his disappointment over employees having unused vacation days at the end of the year. Going further, he announced that from next year, employees would not be permitted to carry over their unused holidays unless their pre-approved holidays are canceled by the firm.
Simpson Thacher’s managing partner, Jason Glover, also sent out a holiday message, declaring that post-Boxing Day, the 27th, 28th and 29th, are working days, with attendance expected on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday, he allowed, can be a work-from-home day, but the office will still be open for those who wish to come in.
In the wake of these announcements, the Roll On Friday’s report had a fitting conclusion. It emailed Jason Glover for his comment regarding the policy change. There wasn’t a timely reply because, as Glover’s auto-response said, he himself was away from the office, returning only by January 2nd.