5 minute read
How firms can leverage technology to help beat the skills shortage
It’s clear that digital transformation is starting to have a big impact on law firms and will lead to significant (positive) disruption and opportunities over coming years.
This has been partly driven by the need for firms to provide remote working, necessitated by the COVID pandemic and the desire to provide more flexibility to their workforce. However the greatest challenge faced by many firms right now is the acute skills shortage and the pressures on staff retention it creates. This presents a significant opportunity to gain a competitive advantage through adoption of technology. Here are a few approaches that may help you achieve this.
Automation and Artificial Intelligence
The case for automation appears a straightforward one. Automating work means less staff needed to do it – meaning you can bill more time with fewer people. However, AI also strikes fear into lawyers who feel that computers may take over their roles, reducing employment opportunities.
Using automation and AI to conduct routine tasks has many advantages. Such tasks are less enjoyable to undertake and require less cognitive input so your staff will be less engaged in carrying them out. By upskilling your staff, their work becomes more challenging and rewarding – this has proven to be a key motivator of employee loyalty in the modern workplace.
Additionally, trainees leaving law school are now more highly skilled than ever and used to working with advanced technology. The highest performers will want to work with firms using the latest tech and will not be motivated by ‘cutting their teeth’ on manual administrative tasks.
Automation is becoming used widely across the legal sector including automated document reading and input, eDiscovery to find privileged information in documents, automated contract review and automating back-office workflows. In fact, many of the next generation cloud-based case management systems include some automation features so getting started is easier than ever.
Recruitment
Recruitment is a time-consuming process but in the current market the best candidates are in high demand, with salaries and agency fees sky high. Technology is no ‘magic bullet’ when it comes to recruitment, but there are initiatives you can undertake to give yourself better results in the recruitment market.
Naturally, you want to attract high performers to your business. Generally such people will be technology savvy and will carry out their own research on the market. To make your firm stand out you can utilise online employee review services such as Glassdoor along with your social media platforms to show the world how great your firm is to work for. If you survey your employees, be sure to publish the results. If you are already progressive with the use of technol Surrey Law Society: OUT OF OFFICE Re: Second proof for Surrey Lawyer ogy, automation and AI in your firm, this is something to shout about too.
Bruce Penson
There are also a host of online candidate screening tests such as TestGorrilla that assess candidates for basic skills, attitude and cultural fit before you commit the time to interview for technical skills. Although no substitute for face-to-face interviews, video interviews can be useful as a secondary screening process.
Staff engagement
Recruiting is tough but to make matters worse, everyone else is after your high performers and retaining them is a constant challenge. Not only are engaged staff less likely to jump ship, but they are also likely to be better performers so using technology to assist with staff engagement makes sense.
To start with you should be measuring staff engagement. For senior partners it is often a challenge to check in on your staff all the time and even tougher to get an overview of sentiment across the firm. Annual surveys are not regular enough for you to identify and act on concerns before staff start leaving you. This is where engagement systems such as OfficeVibe come in – seeking regular anonymous feedback and keeping you up to date with developments.
Many firms still use time as a key measure of staff performance. Billing is often based on timesheets but it may become less relevant as more processes are automated. There is now a trend towards measuring staff output, the quality of their work and giving staff more autonomy in how they deliver. Modern practice management systems can help you track critical metrics such as client satisfaction, development and revenue-based KPIs.
Finally, you could be radical and try moving to a four-day working week – as some firms have in a recent national trial. Not only will it differentiate you in a tough employment market, the resulting increase in your firm’s performance may surprise you. It’s a journey we are on at Pro Drive IT and the results really are inspirational! But it has only been possible by using all the technology described in this article. ■
