Cormell: Address root causes of workplace stress
More than six out of 10 lawyers (62%) have experienced burn-out as a result of their work in the last year, a survey has found.
Most lawyers (57%) put “an unmanageable caseload” at the top of their list of stressors at work, followed by a lack of work/life balance (42%).
Along with those who said they had experienced burn-out, a further 21% said they “often feel stressed” at work. Only 17% said they had experienced neither.
Legal recruiter Realm Recruit gathered responses from 202 lawyers last summer on topics relating to workplace wellbeing.
Researchers said a separate study had shown that the proportion of lawyers stating that a more manageable caseload would be a top priority for them if they were to enter the job market increased by almost half to 91% last year, compared to 62% the year before.
On work/life balance, 80% said flexibility would be important to them in their next role.
Third on the list of stressors at work was bad management (39%), followed by poor or unfair pay (32%), lack of flexibility (27%) and a difficult commute (19%).
On the positive side, this year’s survey found a marked increase in the proportion of lawyers saying their employer looked after their mental health/wellbeing fairly or very well, from 40% to 54%.
With a quarter (25%) of lawyers neutral on the issue, 19% said they were “not well” looked after by their employers, while 11% said “not at all”.
Most lawyers (58%) said their law firm offered mental health first aiders and 54% had free or subsidised access to a counsellor, both figures improvements on the previous year.
However, only 29% of lawyers felt supported by their law firm, with 30% saying they felt “partly” supported. Almost a third (31%) said they did not feel supported.
Duane Cormell, managing director of Realm Recruit, commented: “While wellbeing is certainly higher up on the agenda than ever before within the law, sadly, the results of our research indicate that there is still work to do in this area.
“There’s undoubtedly a correlation between good mental health and employee satisfaction, engagement and productivity, so it makes good business sense for law firms to look after the mental health of their staff.
“Many firms have taken steps to improve staff wellbeing by investing in measures such as subsidised access to a counsellor or gym memberships.
“However, addressing the most common root causes of workplace stress – unrealistic caseloads, flexible working policies and poor pay – is likely to have more impact, especially in the current cost of living crisis.
“Firms that look to do this will not only have happier, and therefore, more productive, employees, but will be better placed to attract and retain the very best talent.”
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