ARTICLE
Penny Heighway
How to recruit, retain and incentivise employees in the new normal A
snapshot of the legal landscape in June 2021 as against June 2020 reveals seismic changes brought about as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these changes are positive and, for key decision makers in law firms, it is worth recognising and reacting to these developments, particularly where firms are busy but finding it difficult to recruit into business-critical areas. New ways of working One positive of the pandemic has certainly been to demonstrate to many law firms, whatever their size, that remote working and flexibility can bring obvious benefits to staff, with little effect on the bottom line. We have seen many law firms post very impressive results in a year when the economy shrank by 10%. Across the country we have seen job vacancy levels return to almost pre-pandemic levels, creating a healthy demand for strong associates, partners, teams and in-house lawyers. However, there is an even shorter supply of quality candidates, than was the case pre-pandemic. While 2020 saw an exodus from the City, which could have benefited our regional firms, the historic shortage of candidates in the South East and Surrey has now been exacerbated by the greater geographical reach of the larger regional, national and international firms, who are happy to recruit candidates from literally anywhere, as they seek to fill 100% remote working roles. In addition, for those who want to work in London but live outside the City, they are now able to “have their cake and eat it”, as there is much talk of the “The New Normal” being at least a hybrid of office and home working.
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Amid this change, a relatively new model of law firm has also developed from being a mere alternative to traditional law firms, to being a serious competitor. Fee-sharing law firms now rival the long-established LLP model. Founded in 2006 in Guildford, Setfords was one of the first, and since then others including Gunnercooke, Keystone, and Bexley Beaumont have emerged, securing impressive clients and making eye-catching partner hires from some of the UK’s top LLPs. Gunnercooke welcomed 44 new partners in 2020, many from Top 50 “City” law firms. This trend is projected to continue, with the investment bank Arden predicting that by 2026 a third of all lawyers will be operating under this model. Professional support, knowledge management and contract vacancies have also increased steadily since the second half of 2020, offering alternatives to those fed up with the traditional billing/hourly target private practice model. Therefore, with more choice and a smaller pool of candidates the key must be to ensure that you do everything you can to keep the good staff you do have and to offer yourself as an attractive alternative to your competitors. Market reputation In 2020 many firms did implement cost saving measures, reduce salaries temporarily, utilise the JRS scheme where possible and made redundancies. However most firms tried to hold on to as much of their legal fee earning talent as possible and many have been quick to pay back salaries and any
