Jonathan Bond, global director of HR and learning at Pinsent Masons, reveals his typical working day in the first of a series of articles delving into the daily lives of the legal sector’s people professionals.
1. What time do you usually wake up?
6.30am
2. What’s your morning routine?
I make a cup of tea for my wife, Suzanne, and I. We drink this in bed with our two dogs. Our three teenage boys occasionally come to say hello.
I try to talk to Suzanne, but she is only half listening as she is usually looking at her phone! I start the day more mindfully and don’t look at my phone until I have consumed my tea.
3. What do you have for breakfast?
At home I’ll have a selection of chopped fresh fruit with natural yoghurt and granola. If I’m in the office I’ll go for a plain croissant and a cappuccino – not as healthy!
4. What do you do on your morning commute?
I go through my emails and prepare for the day’s meetings whilst listening to music. I then attend to home admin or do some reading. I usually have a Sunday Times magazine or something similar in my bag.
5. What’s the first thing you do when you get to the office?
I get a croissant and cappuccino in the office coffee bar, usually talking to somebody else queuing for coffee. If I’m unlucky they will say “I am glad I’ve seen you” and proceed to raise a difficult HR issue!
6. Do you listen to anything whilst working?
At home I’ll have Classic FM at low volume, but if I’m in London I just listen to the gentle hum of the open plan office.
7. What is your typical lunchtime routine?
When I’m working from home I’ll have sandwich with Suzanne and walk my dogs if there’s time. But in the office there’s often real variety to my lunch routine: sometimes I’m in meetings or lunch seminars; sometimes I take a short walk through the City.
In my job, it’s so important to have sanity and a calm mind. I try really hard to disconnect from work even for just 15 minutes to do something mindful. That might simply be eating a sandwich on a bench and looking at my surroundings.
8. What do you do to beat the ‘afternoon slump’?
I’m lucky that I don’t have one. In my earlier career I would go to bed much later and frequently fall asleep on the train (and miss my stop). Now I get enough sleep, so I don’t usually feel tired in the day.
9. What snacks can be found on your desk?
I usually have an apple and a banana in my work bag, although I confess that I often yearn for a Twirl around 5pm and frequently give in!
10. What time do you typically log off from work?
When I’m in the office I will log off between 6 and 6.30pm and keep an eye on emails on my journey home.
11. What do you typically do for dinner?
If I’m in London, Suzanne will leave me something in the oven after she has eaten earlier with the children. One upside of lockdown was that I ate most nights with the family for the first time. Pre-pandemic, I would regularly attend work or social functions in London in the evening, which are now slowly returning.
12. How do you wind down in the evening?
I have a wide range of hobbies: I’m a regular golf and tennis player, and I enjoy gardening, dog walking, table tennis, snooker and piano. I play in a band, so we have regular practices and gigs.
If there’s time in the evening, I play a set of tennis with one of the boys. If time is more limited I’ll have a game of pool with one of them on our home table.
13. Any film or TV show recommendations?
I don’t watch much TV in the summer (apart from sports highlights), but did watch more in lockdown and in the winter. My particular favourites were on Netflix – The Crown, The Queen’s Gambit and Chernobyl. Suzanne and I also enjoyed watching the box set of Big Little Lies, based on the Lianne Moriarty novel. For a real relaxed giggle, I love Lee Mack’s Not Going Out.
The only time I have been to the cinema in the past three years was to see the latest Bond film – No Time to Die. I do enjoy going to the cinema, but I enjoy being outside even more.
14. Do you have a bedtime ritual?
In the week, I’m usually asleep by 11pm. I am a great believer in trying to sleep well, so I turn off the phone an hour before that, avoid caffeine in the evening and am restrained about alcohol. Suzanne had a period of sleeping badly so she has learned good sleep habits that we both try. I am super-lucky that I am usually asleep within two minutes of putting my head on the pillow.
15. Do you have any top tips on those days you work from home?
Set yourself a finish time and make sure you move around during the day. I had a bad back during lockdown because I sat at the same chair for hours on end without moving. Even if I’m in calls all day long, I still get up to stretch and move.
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