The research also found that 58 per cent were happy with their work-life balance in their current job. The findings underscored the worldwide movement toward creating a healthy equilibrium between professional ambitions and personal goals. The 2014 ACC Global Work-Life Balance Report received insight from 2,004 corporate counsel in 41 countries, including Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, Asia Pacific region, Canada and Latin America. The results also demonstrated varying levels of happiness by law department size. In-house counsel working in large legal departments (200+ employees) expressed more favorable views toward the level of departmental support offered to caregivers, compared to those working in small to mid-size legal departments. Globally, Canada and the United States rank work-life balance satisfaction more positively (62 percent and 59 percent respectively) than those in Latin America (47 percent), EMEA (44 percent) and Asia-Pacific (33 percent).

Parents and carers 

However, there are still issues with work-life balance, particularly for carers. Industries such as technology (47 percent), compliance and ethics (44 percent), real estate (42 percent) and employment and labour (42 percent) were identified as areas where in-house lawyers considered searching for another role in anticipation of parenting or caregiving responsibilities.

Other key findings in the report:

• Seventy-nine percent of respondents who are caregivers were female, compared to 20 percent male. Forty-four percent of non-caregivers were female and 53 percent were male. Further, 70 percent of female caregivers believed being a caregiver had a “negative impact” on career advancement.

• Telecommuting (91 percent), flexible work schedule (90 percent) and paid maternity or paternity leave (59 percent) were reported as the top three most helpful benefits for employees to manage work-life balance.

• Approximately two-thirds of caregivers indicated that their role as a caregiver has had a somewhat or very negative impact on career advancement opportunities, while only 30 percent believe it has had no impact.

• Fifty-nine percent of caregivers reported difficulty harmonizing between work and personal responsibilities, compared to 42 percent who are non-caregivers.

For more information on the 2014 ACC Global Work-Life Balance Report, visit http://www.acc.com/surveys.