You don't have to be cuddly, but you better play it straight

What makes staff feel satisfied? For law firms, as people businesses, that is the proverbial $64,000 question. Legal Week's research arm, Legal Week Intelligence (LWI) provides some answers with its annual Employee Satisfaction Survey, some headline findings of which we published this week.

The report, which attracted 4,020 responses, asked qualified solicitors to rate their own firms on a range of criteria. From this, LWI produced a 'core' ranking based on 11 criteria judged the most important by respondents.

To be included in the results of the research, at least 10% of a firm's associates were required to respond - and at some firms, nearly 20% of their associates took part. The theoretical maximum a firm could get if every responding associate gave it top marks for every category would be 874. In reality, any firm to score above 650 - as five firms managed - has done very well, while over 600 is OK. Scoring much below 550, however, suggests there is a problem.

What the report is not is one of those 'cuddly company to work for' surveys, which seem to proliferate these days. Though there are 'softer' criteria in the core 11 - such as work/life balance, being valued as an employee and culture  - these are balanced by 'hard' factors like salary, bonus and billable hour expectations. Others are ambition-orientated, like quality of work and prestige.

That is as it should be. Commercial law firms are places for the motivated and hard-working - there's no point in grading them like summer camp. A firm that is seen as hard-nosed can score well providing it is regarded by its own assistants as delivering quality work while also keeping to its career promises. Assistants understand if firms are tough, as long as they are consistent and fair. People do not like to sign up to a false prospectus. Reality not matching the lifestyle sales pitch is, I suspect, the main reason national and regional firms have generally not excelled.

Talking to managing partners at the individual firms brings out other themes as to what can quickly turn your assistants against you. By common consent, trainee deferrals go down like a lead balloon - not just with the deferred, but the junior ranks in general. And that goes double if you don't offer decent compensation.

The LWI findings do strongly suggest that solicitors are largely reconciled to the realities of redundancies. But what they don't like is a sense that the juniors are being disproportionately targeted, and they certainly don't like firms trying to get away with statutory payoffs. While many firms will probably get away with having averagely disgruntled and fearful workforces during the slump, it can be a risky game to play if your firm suddenly becomes an outlier. As one senior partner put it to me: "Once the perception of your law firm as a bad employer becomes student folklore, it's very hard to shift."