Simply the best

One phrase that is frequently overused and invariably under applied is 'staff are our greatest asset'. Easy to say '“ but how often are the words backed up by reality? How much time and energy do we really spend on ensuring we recruit the best staff, to the best positions, and keep them there?

In law, perhaps more than any other field, issues of recruitment and retention, productivity and customer satisfaction are of paramount importance and will determine whether a firm succeeds or fails. People are the raw materials of the legal profession '“ high quality, motivated and happy staff are the key to the success of any practice.

Yet so much recruitment is still done through the traditional route of advertisement in professional and national media, consideration of CVs and formal interview.

This is not only a lengthy and expensive process '“ in terms of advertising costs, managerial time and lead in times before a new recruit can join (let alone get up to speed) '“ but it is also a lottery. It is well known that applicants tend to exaggerate their qualifications and achievements in their CVs and at interview.

There is little opportunity to test out these claims, even if references are taken up, before a person takes up their post. By the time it is discovered that they are not all they were cracked up to be, it can be a very costly, damaging and time consuming exercise to remove them.

Employment agencies

A much maligned and often under appreciated source of recruitment is through agencies. This is often thought of as a short term, temporary fix rather than an established means of identifying quickly and cost effective, high-calibre staff who are motivated, readily available and capable of hitting the ground running.

By building up good relationships with two or three agencies, with a clear mutual understanding of your firm's requirements, expectations and standards when it comes to recruitment, you can be assured that the CVs you are sent are only going to be those that match your profile of a suitable candidate.

Once interviewed and appointed (sometimes as early as the following day), you can assess that individual's competence and 'cultural fit'. If, for any reason, you do not like them or they do not like you, it is easy to sever the arrangement immediately, with the minimum of delay or expense.

If, however, after a month or two in post, the relationship is blossoming, then it is equally simple to make them a permanent employee. While there are agency fees to pay for doing so, they are often less than the costs of advertising and recruitment through the traditional route.

Successful recruitment

Good staff give you competitive advantage. On the negative side, customers can identify with 92 per cent accuracy: which employees are poor performers and which are dissatisfied. Dissatisfied employees are 20 per cent less productive than satisfied employees and for every 1 per cent of dissatisfied employees there are 5 per cent of dissatisfied customers.

So here are a few pointers to successful recruitment and retention:

• use agency staff '“ flexibility in hiring and firing, immediate and more reliable way of recruiting, capable of being made permanent;
• as a manager, be personally involved in all recruitment, do not delegate '“ select on the basis of emotional intelligence, cultural fit and attitude. You can teach people law, but you can not change their personalities;
• do not carry passengers '“ it brings everybody down. Nurture and reward the good and do not suffer the bad. Do not carry passengers and cut out the dead wood; and
• put the right people in place and make sure they can succeed. Make every person and every position count.

For staff to succeed, employers must realise that they have a strong responsibility to serve them, and make sure that they have everything they need to be successful. If they succeed, you succeed. If they fail, you fail. This means checking in the ego and recognising that long gone are the days when success is based on the drive and determination of one individual's personality. Rugged individualism is being replaced by interdependent action and an office philosophy along the following lines:

• a place where people come to work everyday in a rush to try something they woke up thinking about the night before;
• employees who go home from work wanting to talk about what they did today rather than trying to forget about it;
• a place where when the working day is finished, everybody wonders where the time went; and
• where, by shaping their own work experience, employees make their own lives better and their legal team the best.

Change of structure

More empowerment and less control from the top is required, which can be quite scary to begin with. Distribute and delegate power, authority and autonomy. It helps to think of yourself more as a coach than a manager.

Allow decisions to be taken where the knowledge is. But like any other skill, the ability to take good decisions requires training, practice and the right tools '“ do not just leave people to get on with it and be tolerant of early mistakes.

It is also vital to make sure that accountabilities and responsibilities are clear and that passing the baton of decision making does not result in adhocracy. People apply themselves surprisingly readily to things they understand and believe in. Change is something most people enjoy in their private lives '“ why? '“ because they are in control of it. Change in the workplace requires openness and transparency, not just information on a need to know basis.

It may seem a little scary to let go, but be prepared to explain the what and the why, and have confidence to leave the how to the skills and capabilities of the staff. It works.