CMS UK has offered its staff the opportunity to take up to one month a year off work as unpaid leave.

In a bid to improve work/life balance at the firm, CMS has made all employees, barring trainees, eligible to apply each calendar year for a 'timeout break' – a period of up to one month's unpaid leave.

Employees must have a minimum of 12 months continuous service before they can apply for time off, and must coordinate with other members of their team before making a request, which will be decided on by their practice group leader or director.

CMS said the idea had been put to the firm's board by an associate who had heard about a similar initiative by Deloitte while attending one of the firm's 'Women in Business' networking events.

The policy applies to the CMS UK partnership, which also includes a number of offices outside of the UK, including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

It follows other similarly-themed initiatives introduced by the firm since its three-way merger with Nabarro and Olswang last May. In September that year, CMS overhauled its parental leave package for UK staff and lawyers, enabling new parents to stay at home with their child for several years before returning to the firm, rather than the standard 12 months.

The maternity leave policy has a no-clawback provision, meaning the firm does not reclaim any enhanced pay from people who do not return after taking leave.

The drive to address work/life balance in law is being seen as increasingly important for top UK firms. Last month, Legal Week's Big Question survey revealed that 91% believe long working hours are negatively impacting their mental and physical health. Notably, City partners felt their mental and physical health was affected by the increasing number of hours they work.

CMS senior partner Penelope Warne said that maintaining a culture which fosters a healthy work/life balance is critical to a firm's success. "We recognise that some of our people may wish or need to take an extended break from work for a wide variety of personal reasons during the course of their employment," she said. "We continue to evolve our policies to support a culture where reasonable requests and a spirit of personal responsibility will be encouraged and supported."

During the past few years, firms have gradually introduced new ways of working to address the ongoing work/life balance issue.

In 2016, Fieldfisher introduced agile working for all of its UK legal practices, allowing lawyers to work from home for up to one day per week, while last year a number of German Linklaters associates took up a new 40-hour week fixed-hour contract on reduced pay.