Ian Barratt explains why employee wellbeing is rising up the work agenda
Over the past few months, we have noticed some key indicators emerging that support our view that stress is manifesting itself in new ways as a result of the recession. Many legal firms have been making staff redundant for some time now, particularly where they once had large conveyancing teams. As many firms continue to cut costs, it is left up to the remaining employees to drive the business forward to profitability.
And that’s precisely where the problem lies. In any downsizing operation, the employees who are lucky enough to keep their jobs inevitably take on more work, certainly put in longer hours to get the additional tasks done and some may sacrifice their work/life balance in the process. In the work that we have undertaken with clients during 2009, the legal sector has been badly hit with this type of scenario.
As solicitors are now starting to get busier and taking on more cases, the headcount is not changing to reflect the increased workload, at least, not for the moment. The
