Is the legal industry keeping up with the escalating demand to address the issue of employee well-being? Initial data from Bloomberg Law’s Law Firm Benchmarks 2021 Survey reveals that lawyers are slightly less optimistic about the legal profession’s (and their own law firm’s) well-being preparedness than they were compared to last year’s Law Firm Benchmarks Survey results. The preliminary results include responses from 100 lawyers, and the survey is still continuing to collect responses; click here to participate.
So far this year, one-third of survey respondents (33%) felt that their law firm is not prepared to address employee well-being—and more than half (51%) felt that the legal profession in general is unprepared. That’s an increase of 10 and 12 percentage points, respectively, from last year. This trend could be due to the new or increased stressors that have been brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. The need for well-being resources and management has become ever more present.
Despite the glum outlook compared to last year, there is a silver lining. Lawyers still tend to feel that their law firms are taking more steps to address well-being than the legal profession is as a whole. Although on the surface, this result should be seen with some skepticism—not all firms can be doing better than the average—lawyers are at least recognizing the efforts under way within their own surroundings.
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Well-being initiatives are typically an internal effort, and there isn’t a whole lot of clarity on what’s been most effective for legal industry workers. As we near Well-Being Week in Law, Bloomberg Law is exploring how organizations have responded to the industry’s increased focus on promoting and increasing lawyer well-being.
If your company is a signatory to the Well-Being Pledge, we want to hear from you! Please email surveysunit@bloombergindustry.com for more information.
If you want to participate in the Law Firm Benchmarks survey, click here!
Bloomberg Law subscribers can find related content on our Surveys, Reports & Data Analysis and In Focus: Lawyer Well-Being pages.
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