Work – Life Balance: What Does It Look Like in 2022?

Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode: February 15, 2022

Brought to You in Cooperation with NACM

We’ve been talking about work-life balance for decades. It is a perennial challenge. What has changed in these last two years is, of course, COVID. For the first time in the history of America’s court system, large numbers of employees are teleworking, many are frightened of catching the Coronavirus in the office, others are concerned over losing their personal freedom, and we all seem to be working and living with incomplete and often rapidly changing information.

Anecdotal comments are both positive and negative. Office productivity has improved; but the lines between work-life and homelife have blurred, particularly for caregivers; management has adapted to the new flexible office; but burnout and mental health concerns have skyrocketed, and this is a contributing factor to what has come to be known as “the great resignation.”

This month we are going to explore work-life balance and how COVID has affected courts and court employees. Some of the questions we will explore include:

What has been folk’s experience with work-life balance over the years?
Has the advent of COVID changed that experience? Is that change for the better or worse?
Is there anything NACM can do to address this issue?
What advice do these court professionals have for the rest of us?

Listen to the February 15, 2022, CLAPodcast Episode on your way to or from work. 24 Minutes 27 Seconds

Watch the February 15, 2022, CLAPodcast Episode 25 Minutes 18 Seconds

Today’s Co-Host

Alyce Roberts is recently retired as the Special Projects Coordinator for the Alaska Court System. As a member of the court’s senior staff, she was the AOC’s primary liaison with the clerks of court. In this capacity, she was responsible for developing the annual statewide clerks of court conference program, facilitating the sessions and serving as a presenter. She regularly worked with court colleagues and justice partners to propose revisions to court rules and develop statewide clerical procedures. She served on the Alaska Supreme Court’s Civil Rules Advisory Committee.

Alyce worked for the Alaska Court System since 1989, holding a number of positions including clerk of court in Anchorage (the state’s largest general jurisdiction court). She has served on the National Association for Court Management’s (NACM) Board of Directors, chairs NACM’s Communication Committee, and she is a Fellow of the Institute for Court Management (2010).

Today’s Panelists

Alexis Allen serves as the Chief Operating Officer for the Tempe Municipal Court in Arizona, Maricopa County, where she plans, leads, and directs all non-judicial functions and operations for the Court. She also served as the Civil Division Court Administrator for the Phoenix Municipal Court in Arizona, the State’s largest limited jurisdiction court. Alexis has over 20 years of municipal court experience and has held several roles from front line operations to Court Administration. She currently oversees financial management, personnel management, case management, policy development and implementation, and technology and innovation.

Alexis has served on various statewide committees, workgroups and associations over the years. Among them are Committee on Limited Jurisdiction Courts, Court Leadership Institute of Arizona, Limited Jurisdiction Court Administrators Association and Judicial Staff Education Committee. She is a 2014 graduate of the Institute for Court Management (ICM) Fellows Program. She received her Master’s degree in Administration, emphasis on Leadership, from Northern Arizona University and her Bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, emphasis on Organizational Studies, from Arizona State University.

Angie VanSchoick is the Court Clerk and Town Clerk for the Town of Silverthorne, Colorado. Previously she was Court Administrator with the Town of Breckenridge Municipal Court, a position she held since 2013. In this role, she was responsible for all court operations, including the implementation of policies and procedures, general administration, and jury management. Over the past eight years, she has expanded her court presence by serving on the Board of the Colorado Association for Municipal Court Administration (CAMCA). She currently serves as Immediate Past President and Co-Treasurer of CAMCA, in addition to maintaining their website, serving as a trainer, and providing general oversight.

Angie is a licensed macro level social worker in the State of Colorado and Michigan, receiving her MSW from the University of Michigan in 2007. Her focus was on Policy, Evaluation, Community Organization, and Community Social Systems, which has provided her with a solid background to assist her Court and CAMCA. As a lifelong learner, she welcomes opportunities to expand her knowledge and knows that serving as a NACM Director will assist in that expansion.

Kelly Hutton has worked for the North Dakota Court System since January 2007 and is currently the Assistant Court Administrator for Unit 1 which is comprised of 13 counties and 11 judges. She has served on local committees and assisted in the implementation of many projects in North Dakota. Kelly currently works with the statewide Caseflow Management Committee, chairs the Digital Recording Workgroup, and the technology sub-group of the caseflow committee, which assisted in the creation of the judicial dashboard that is utilized across the state by judges and court administrators.

In 2015, Kelly completed the Court Management Program and in 2017 completed her ICM Fellowship through the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). Her fellowship paper entitled “Caseflow Management in North Dakota: From Measurement to Management” documented the recent changes in North Dakota rules and policies and discussed recommendations for the future of caseflow management in North Dakota.

Kelly holds a B.A. in Legal Studies from Hamline University, where she also had minors in Economics and Political Science. She is currently working on her Master’s in Public Administration at the University of North Dakota.