Why spend time focusing on employees
As someone dedicated to building sustainable, profitable law firms, I'm often asked why I spend time focusing on employees. The answer is simple: Employee Experience (EX) and Client Experience (CX) are two sides of the same coin, forming the foundation of a successful legal practice. Research by Gallup of 276 organisations in 54 industries and 96 countries found that business units with high employee engagement significantly outperformed those with low engagement:
💡18% higher productivity in sales
💡23% higher profitability
💡10% higher customer loyalty/engagement
💡18% to 43% lower turnover rates
In the legal sector, where relationships and expertise are paramount, these figures translate directly to better client outcomes and firm success. It's clear: investing in our people isn't just about making things look good—it's about creating a thriving ecosystem where great employee experiences naturally lead to exceptional client experiences and robust financial performance. Particularly in today's market with the challenge of attracting, recruiting and retaining talent.
With this perspective in mind, I recently attended the WA HR Leadership Summit, and I'm excited to share the insights I gained. There were two overarching themes that I think are particularly relevant to the legal sector:
💡 The evolution of workplace culture and skills: With the changing nature of work itself, there's a growing focus on creating hyper-personalised employee experiences that are inclusive, flexible, and skill-focused. This means tailoring work arrangements, development opportunities, and rewards to individual employee needs and preferences, rather than applying a one-size first all approach. In law firms, this could involve a menu of benefits that employees choose from based on their needs, customised career paths, flexible work arrangements, L+D that align with both the employee’s aspirations and the firms needs.
💡 Embracing technological transformation: AI and other emerging technologies are not just changing how we work; they're reshaping entire business models. For the legal sector, this means grappling with new ways of managing talent, leveraging data for decision-making, and preparing our workforce for a tech-driven future.
These themes aren't isolated - they intersect and influence each other in complex ways, creating both challenges and opportunities. For instance, technology can enable more hyper-personalised experiences so by focusing on these areas, we're not just improving our internal operations; we're directly enhancing our ability to serve clients effectively and build stronger, more profitable firms.
