Cuts, freezes and sabbaticals mooted at top-100 firms
Top law firms are re-evaluating their staffing policies by introducing more flexible working to avoid making redundancies, according to research by Sweet & Maxwell.
The legal information provider found firms are introducing more flexibility, offering sabbaticals, retraining and part-time working to their employees.
Sweet & Maxwell asked 25 top-100 law firms what measures they have implemented to cut costs while avoiding staff redundancies. According to the results, only one firm has gone ahead with pay cuts, but 36% said they are considering them. A quarter (24%) of firms have put salary freezes in place, with 60% considering this as an option.
The most common measure is to offer lawyers temporary internal secondments, with 52% of respondents saying that this is now part of their policy. The second most common measure is to offer lawyers sabbaticals, with 44% of firms promoting this option. The third most common measure is to offer to retrain lawyers in other practice areas, with 42% of firms having adopted this. Part-time working is being offered by 40% of respondents.
The research also found that 20% of firms plan to reduce headcount, while 24% will increase it, with 56% keeping headcounts the same.
Sweet & Maxwell questioned 25 top 100 firms, including two magic circle firms as part of its research.
Comments
It's good to see firms not
It's good to see firms not just firing people right left and centre without considering alternatives. But the precedent of pay cuts is an interesting one. Could such fluctuations in pay eventually become an accepted part of working for a law firm, or indeed any business? There's always a suspicion that this is beingt developed as a tool designed to further enrich shareholders in the long run, or in this case the equity partners....
Pay ups and downs
~Why wouldn't any law firm have a collective salary/bonus level in place?
If you are all in it together, clearly directed, with the right type of team players
then you will win. Pay is the reward for the performance. The better the performance the better the pay. As long as things are clear and very fair then most people will work with this type of results oriented pay. Particularly when you recruit you get the type of people on board who are happy with this.
However, where pay rises and bonuses are unfairly balanced to rewarding partners then the team will not work together effectively. "I don't benefit from doing the work," is a common excuse for not improving things. Notwithstanding the fact that doing new things and improving existing things is part of personal development, not of firm development.
The more that you learn as a lawyer to develop your own ability, the more that you will never be under the threat of redundancy. In fact it is more likely that you will want to fly to pastures new, or set up your own business.
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