With the tight job market these days, we as law firm employers need to take a fresh look at issues affecting the retention of employees and creating a productive workforce. Law firms have necessarily moved toward more traditional business models, but as a whole, the legal profession has been slower to adapt the more “human” side of business than other employers. Paying attention to the well-being of our employees is actually a good business practice that leads to greater productivity, especially since we rely on human capital, not machines, for our business. People are the drivers of our success, and profitable law firms understand this and are creating programs for wellness and engagement, our firm included. The law firms that resist such a move will be left behind. As managing partner of our firm’s Philadelphia office and a labor and employment attorney, this issue is at the forefront both with our clients and within our firm.

An Engaged Workforce Is a Productive Workforce

In “The Coming Jobs War,” Jim Clifton discusses the global battle for a productive workforce. Our firm applies his insights in our leadership training for C-Suite members, but it is relevant to law firms as well. According to Gallup, there are approximately 100 million employees in the United States of which 28% are “actively engaged,” 53% are “not engaged” and 19% are “actively disengaged.” The not engaged workers are not hostile or disruptive and they are not troublemakers. They are just there killing time with little or no concern about clients, productivity, profitability, waste, safety or purpose. They are essentially “checked out.” Most importantly, they are not only part of your support staff, but they sit on your executive committee. The actively disengaged on the other hand, are destroying employers from the inside out. They exhaust managers, have more on-the-job injuries, cause more quality defects, are sicker and absent more days and they quit at a higher rate than engaged employees. The key to a productive workforce is to turn the not engaged into actively engaged and dismiss the actively disengaged.