The Examiners: Shaunna D. Jones on How Firms Can Attract and Retain ...

What factors can make restructuring a difficult field in which to balance work and family obligations, and what should professional firms be doing to help employees? 

Discussions on the difficulty of “balancing” (or more accurately, juggling) work and personal obligations often assume that the problem is the professional’s dilemma. If it is, it’s certainly not a predicament an individual should have to solve alone. Perhaps the right question is how restructuring firms should adapt so that the firm and its employees can thrive.

Some may read this question as code for yet another inquiry into the difficulties that women face in reaching the top of the restructuring industry (among others). But this is not a women’s issue; it’s a people issue. Our industry’s future rests in the hands of millennials, and we must continue to attract impressive young professionals who have an ever-expanding array of career opportunities. Newer entrants to the job market demand that work not overshadow other aspects of their lives. Notably, those individual priorities now extend beyond the traditional outlines of “family” obligations (usually referring to a nuclear family and childrearing obligations). To retain talent of both genders, restructuring firms should invest financially and philosophically in new approaches. To do so successfully, firms will also have to believe at their core that these efforts don’t just “help” employees—these initiatives are the path for firms’ survival.

First, restructuring firms should invest in technology that structures the workplace (i.e., where work is done, not just a brick and mortar office) in a way that permits professionals to achieve the balance that they are seeking.

Second, restructuring service providers need to move away from a culture that seems stuck on perpetual “hyperdrive.” Restructuring is a business propelled by crises—for many professionals, that element of excitement sustains a career over decades. However, there are certain periods of time and tasks that aren’t emergencies. Insisting upon long hours of face time even when not required by the circumstances may drive talented professionals out of the profession (or at least the firm).

It would be easier to cling to the hackneyed belief that some professionals prioritize “other things” over work and just can’t hack it in a demanding profession. Yet that would distract restructuring firms from focusing on industry changes that must take place and admitting that we need to deploy our restructuring skills to fix our own industry. A candid exploration of the character traits that are currently rewarded and valued in restructuring professionals, as well as the stereotypes of which professionals are more likely to have those traits, is also necessary. Yes, restructuring does require toughness, but we shouldn’t assume that only certain “types” are tough. We need to focus not only on how the work day and workplace are structured but also on rewarding professionals with the attributes that actually get results—consensus-building and adaptability (and, dare I say, a sense of balance).

Shaunna D. Jones is a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher’s business reorganization and restructuring practice. She is based in New York.