Morton Fraser chairman champions ‘agile working’

Agile working is the practice of allowing employees to work where, when and how they want to, so long as doing so does not affect service or productivity.

Speaking to The Herald, Ms Moodie said: “One of the things that we keep seeing in terms of agile working is that, counter-intuitively, productivity goes up, although that’s not the point of it, it’s a by-product.”

She added that in order for the firm to continue to attract the best people “you’ve got to recognise that money is important but that it’s not the most important thing – no-one will die saying ‘I wish I’d spent less time with my family’,” adding: “For us it is about getting the best out of people and making sure they can be the best they can be.”

She added: “So long as the client service doesn’t drop - and clients aren’t shy about telling you there’s an issue – it’s totally fine.

“It’s about empowering people to do the job the way they want to do it.”

Ms Moodie also paid tribute to her predecessor, Linda Urquhart, who retired from the role earlier this year.

“Linda Urquhart was the first female managing partner of a Scottish law firm and she led the way in terms of senior female role models for us.

“She was responsible in the early days for initially introducing flexible working and she at one point job shared with another woman in that managing partner role.”

And Ms Moodie welcomed the challenge of implementing agile working at the firm.

“I’ve got to where I am because I’ve taken the chance to take up every opportunity and challenge that came my way,” she said. “New challenges keep you fresh and invigorated.”