Productivity is a major issue affecting the legal world, particularly as forward-thinking law-firms look to embrace the ‘agile working’ phenomenon to reduce personnel costs and increase efficiency.  But law firms cannot hope to implement intelligent approaches to productivity without having a clear idea of their starting point; how they measure up to others in the legal sector, and other professional services. 

At the iOpener Institute for People and Performance, we gathered and analyzed over 30,000 management interviews as part of a study of current employee productivity levels.  Productivity was measured as ‘time on task’; the time workers were actively producing outputs that made a tangible contribution to their organization.

Productivity scores were examined across sectors giving those in the legal industry the opportunity to evaluate their own productivity initiatives in context. The results revealed wide disparities of productivity between sectors. The study showed that the cross-sector average for time on task is 58.8 per cent. The legal sector scores close to this figure with 59 per cent. This compares to other sectors such as the education sector 63 per cent and finance 57.3 per cent.

Room for improvement

The legal sector can take encouragement from scoring above the industry average for productivity. But – with less than two thirds of time spent on task - clearly there is still significant potential improvement.A key finding of the study was that sectors with the highest levels of productivity also performed strongly in the measurements of Happiness at Work. Broad correlations between Happiness at Work and productivity are recognised by numerous sources.  Some governments have even started to compile ‘Happiness’ indices, in recognition of this correlation. But by understanding the individual components of Happiness at Work, and their own company’s performance within those areas, law firms can build their productivity strategies much more effectively. 

Driving productivity

There are a number of approaches that can be taken to improve Happiness at Work and drive productivity.

Driver 1: Effort: It’s impossible to be productive without clear goals, without precise and well-articulated objectives that lead to those goals and without addressing problems that arise on the way.  That means the ability to raise issues and have others help solve them too.Constructive feedback helps to improve contribution even more while personal appreciation goes a long way to boosting productivity. Interestingly, negative feedback which is poorly given doubles sick leave according to our data. And increased sick leave of course affects productivity levels.

Driver 2: Short-term motivation: Good organizations encourage motivation by helping partners and staff own issues and take responsibility.  And they do that at a level that fits with an individual’s skills, strengths and expertise levels. Lawyers and support personnel are encouraged to work on what they are good at, to prioritize what they do and to build efficiencies into their work.  

Driver 3: How well you fit into a firm: Performance and happiness at work are both boosted when people feel they fit within their organizational culture. Believing that you’re in the wrong job, feeling disconnected from the values of your workplace or disliking your colleagues is dispiriting and de-energizing.  And all of that feels much worse if decisions in your workplace feel unfair. Good firms can address this by being as transparent as possible about why decisions are made, explaining  why resources are allocated in the way they are, and making sure that their approach is  as equitable as possible.

Driver 4: Long-term engagement: This is about commitment, the long-term engagement you have with what you do and your organization. Having to work hard in a job you feel stuck in is energy draining at best and associated with higher illness at worst.This tells firms that they need to regularly and convincingly communicate the practice’s corporate strategy, along with tangible proof of how that strategy is being implemented and the contribution it is making - to the bottom line, but also to the whole working environment and ethos.

Driver 5: Self-belief: Confidence is the gateway to productivity and our data shows that a primary indicator of confidence is that things get done. We also found that things get done better, faster or more economically because people are confident of the outcome. For law firms to develop effective productivity initiatives they need to understand how they compare with other organizations in their sector. By using these benchmarks as a platform, tailored strategies can be developed that rise above the unambitious, but are also likely to be achievable.

Jessica Pryce- Jones is joint founder and partner of the iOpener institute for People & Performance which examines the factors that contribute to resilience and how it can be maintained. The report ’Perspectives on Productivity’ may be downloaded by visiting this link. To be part of our Global Happiness at Work Index  fill in our online Index questionnaire: http://www.iopenerinstitute.com/get-your-free-report.aspx