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Herbert Smith Freehills launches a revolutionary policy in the legal sector, giving its employees a great deal of freedom to choose their holiday days

Can you imagine being able to choose between working on a public holiday and booking the day you choose not to work? 

It's not a common approach in the legal sector, but it has been announced by Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) Australia, and will be implemented from 1 October. 

In a further step to promote flexible working, HSF Australia's 'Public Holiday Swap' policy aims to give employees "greater flexibility to choose when they work, in a way that recognises the great diversity that exists across the firm," according to Danielle Kelly, HSF's Head of Diversity. 

Danielle Kelly (HSF)

As part of their commitment to this policy, employees who want to change their day off to another day will have to coordinate with their supervisors, without having to give a reason. 

However, there are limits to this new policy: HSF Australia employees will not be able to change their days off on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.  

This measure will be in place until 1 October 2022, with the possibility of a longer extension.

"This new initiative will complement and strengthen our existing flexible work practices as well as drive greater inclusion across the workplace. As a firm, we believe that empowering our people with more flexibility to make choices about how they work helps them to deliver great results for our clients and our business," explains HSF's HR Director, Alissa Anderson. 

The move also lends itself to the firm's treatment of its employees in terms of diversity. For example, a lawyer of a particular religion will be able to celebrate the holidays of his or her religion. 

"We understand that our people have different religious and cultural practices, as well as different political beliefs. Unlike some other organisations which require their people to provide evidence of a specific religious or cultural practice in order to swap a public holiday, our new policy provides greater flexibility by allowing our people to apply to their supervisor to swap a public holiday for another day without the need to specify the reason," Kelly explains.