Every cloud...
Date: 12 June 2009
Authors: Simon Young
Issue: Vol 159, Issue 7373
Categories: Features, Employment
Many law firms will have had difficult times over the last year or so in dealing with over-staffing issues and the conduct of redundancy programmes. In a profession where often working lives are spent in one firm only, and there are ties of loyalty both up and down, this has often been traumatic.
The depth of feeling against firms which have had to take these steps can be seen by the various blogs, and comments posted against the newswires declaring each latest batch of bad news. Ironically, these have often focused on the methods adopted by management, even where the necessity for cuts has been admitted. So, how can it possibly be suggested that there may be plus points resulting from these moves, as they move forward into post-recovery trading times?
The truth
The honest if unpalatable truth is that for some firms the clearances were a godsend, and offered a chance to take tough management decisions which otherwise would never have been made, as it would just have created too much trouble. In other words, faced with trading conditions which made it a necessity to make cuts, they have cleared out all but the best of their staff, leaving them leaner and more efficient than they have previously ever been.
For others, where they were of the opinion that, in the long term, they wanted to keep all their staff, but had to move on to short-term working, the exercise is likely to have thrown into sharp distinction the difference between those who are dedicated to the firm and those who are not.
In many cases, managing partners have spoken, with a mixture of admiration and surprise, of staff who, when put onto a four-day week, with the consequent 20% cut in salary, have declared their intention to work the full five days anyway, in the expectation that the firm will return to normality all the sooner if they do so, and the determination to make that happen.
So, when the upturn starts to show, firms may either have vacancies to fill from scratch, or a clear idea of which of their staff have been prepared to go the extra mile, and can be expected to help to lead the firm through recovery.
Recruitment
For those who wish to recruit, this must be an excellent time to be doing so. Factors which have previously made it difficult to recruit at all may be much less significant.
So, firms in the provinces, or the outskirts of cities, which have previously fought unsuccessfully against the magnetic pull of salary levels in city centres (especially London) may suddenly find they are much more attractive places to work. Also, those seeking to recruit into areas of work where previously skills were at an absolute premium may find that they have a choice of applicants before them.
The salaries they are expected to pay, and the benefits packages they are expected to offer, should also have become more rational. One only has to look at the recruitment section of the Law Society Gazette to see the change—a recent issue had six pages of job adverts, whereas an issue picked at random from December 2007 had 28.
Firms which are in a position to recruit should find the very best candidates available and not be prepared to accept the sub-standard, simply to get a backside on an office chair.
Firms will only prosper in the future if they can differentiate themselves by quality—quality of legal expertise, quality of service and quality of professionalism and management. The ability at present to recruit at a level of applicant higher than may ever have been available to them before gives firms a unique chance to ratchet up their offering.
Training is key
Of course, getting staff and keeping them are two separate issues. If a firm does succeed in a recruitment programme, it has to fulfil its side of the bargain. It will be no use recruiting by offering intellectually challenging work, but then expecting drudgery. Top quality training should be offered, but even that will be no use unless it can be put into practice with work which tests the output of that training.
It may be difficult for people to find jobs now, but that does not mean that it will be so in two or three years’ time, and if firms are not to lose those they have recruited, they have to make good on all their promises. That will require top-quality management, driving the firm forward, even in apparently adverse times.
Simon Young MBA, solicitor and founder member of the Law Consultancy Network. E-mail: simon@syoung.co.uk
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