17 Jun Managing Employee Retention
As a busy lawyer, the last thing you want to hear is that one or more of your valued employees is resigning. Sudden and unexpected resignations can be very disruptive, forcing the remaining team members to go into reactive mode in response to client demands. With the current shortage of suitably qualified and experienced job applicants, staff retention continues to be a top priority for most firms. Not only are there shortages in key areas (such as commercial, family and employment), it has also become more difficult to retain staff. In some instances, the inability to fully staff teams results in increased workloads and a ‘snowball’ effect of departing team members.
In the light of this, what particular changes to the recruitment process can be made to improve both recruitment success and staff retention? In response some firms have been reducing the barriers to entry for applicants, such as offering increased benefits and more flexible working arrangements, as well as considering a wider range of experience to fill vacancies. Providing applicants with a realistic picture of the job during the recruitment process also has a positive effect on retention. It is also important to better understand what is motivating successful candidates when they accept your job offers. What is really driving a particular candidate to accept? Is it just the higher salary? Or do they have a real emotional connection to your firm? After all, in a lot of cases the candidate may be doing similar work for similar clients as their previous role. If it is purely money motivating the shift then the new employer risks, and this does happen, the current employer offering a significant increase in remuneration to retain a key staff member during the time the candidate is serving out their notice period.
These days it has become more important than ever that law practices also pay particular attention to retaining those staff working in areas of skill shortages. This could involve examining how staff are getting on with other team members, offering timely career progression opportunities as well as keeping an eye on those working excessive hours. Employee job satisfaction can also be improved by ensuring that there is some variety in assignments and from time to time some challenging work. An occasional pro-bono assignment for a non-profit not only gives back to the community, but also adds meaning to peoples work – in addition to making them feel good about their career choice.
Firms should also determine if there is a wide gap between internal salary bands and what can be achieved in the market. It is important to monitor such gaps to avoid undesirable turnover of staff. Team leads also play a key role in ensuring that their team members remain a firm’s number one asset. For those teams that focus on time critical work, the team size should be reviewed regularly to make sure that it is sufficient.