There is much concern that a recruitment crisis is affecting law firms, as many consider how to fill junior positions.
However, there is an ever-growing concern that law firms may be struggling to retain talent once it has been cultivated.
With firm loyalty in decline, we consider what can be done to incentivise your team to keep working alongside you for longer.
Are more solicitors changing firms in the middle of their careers?
In the past, it was more common for people to settle into a job and work there for decades, climbing up the ranks and amassing a healthy pension to retire with.
The job market has changed since then and attitudes towards work have shifted.
Loyalty to a firm is no longer as important as it once was and this is reflected in the fact that the average British worker changes jobs every five years.
This is often due to the need for better pay, as starting offers for more senior roles tend to be higher than the amount that is earned through promotion.
Law firms are in no way immune from these wider societal trends and a retention of top talent is something that many struggle with.
We discovered in our research that 19 per cent of firms struggle to keep top talent and this can be a problem for law firms that want to grow.
Even when pay might not be the most pressing concern for solicitors, there might be other factors that are causing them to move to a different firm.
A challenge is forming for modern law firms, as if new solicitors are getting harder to acquire and experienced ones are moving around frequently, is there any way to build and grow a sustainable practice?
How can you retain top talent?
While it might seem like the answer would be to throw more money at those who have earned it, there is more to work than just getting paid.
A professional environment in which people feel rewarded, challenged and able to develop is vital for maintaining good working health.
At Smokeball, we are keen to make solicitors happier in their work and want to optimise the way that work is handled.
More experienced solicitors are more likely to become frustrated at tedious tasks as they feel that their skills and expertise would be better suited to other things.
Smokeball streamlines workflows so that the boring work can be handled automatically, allowing your talented team to get stuck into the work they trained for.
The collaborative nature of Smokeball, wherein conversations can be summarised by our AI, allows for greater cohesion between team members.
Forging these bonds may help solicitors feel more anchored to their firms as they grow to enjoy working as part of the team.
Loyalty cannot be bought and the frequent changes in jobs demonstrate that.
Instead, it is important to cultivate a culture wherein solicitors feel that the work they do has value and that they are valued.
If you want to improve the work culture of your law firm, book a demo today!
