‘Poor’ workplace culture pushing 1 in 10 lawyers out of the profession 

A recent survey of 1,900 lawyers discovered some alarming findings in relation to the impact workplace culture can have on one’s wellbeing and their love for the profession.

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on HR Leader’s sister brand, Lawyers Weekly.

An Australian National University study, spearheaded by Professor Julian Webb of Melbourne Law School and principal investigator Emerita Professor Vivien Holmes, has revealed some of the damaging consequences that can arise for the law profession if workplace culture is not addressed.

The survey of 1,900 lawyers across Victoria, NSW and Western Australia highlighted that about half of respondents reported that the culture of their workplace has a negative effect on their wellbeing – with the report finding that 18 per cent of respondents operate out of workplaces with a “poor” culture.

Poor relationships with colleagues, self-interest, incivility, and pressure to either cut corners or break the rules were cited as some of the key drivers that are negatively impacting wellbeing.

“We found poor culture was statistically associated with higher psychological distress, workplace incivility, and a lack of effective wellbeing supports such as flexible working, better workload management, and tailored counselling or employee assistance programs,” Webb said.

According to the report, these higher rates of psychological distress spread right across the profession, with both junior and senior lawyers succumbing to distress through the differing tasks – leading to an increased number leaving the profession altogether.

“Our study identifies a clear relationship between workplace culture, wellbeing and career intentions, with a third of participants reporting that they want to quit their firm, and one in 10 planning to leave the profession within a year,” Holmes said.

“High workloads and a poor balance between perceived effort and reward were a serious problem.”

The report found that workplaces that uphold flexible working arrangements and understand the specific needs of both junior and senior workers pertaining to their wellbeing were often touted as a workplace with a positive culture.

“Nearly half of legal workplaces had a positive culture with good wellbeing supports, stronger relationships and healthier and happier staff,” Holmes said.

“We were able to identify the foundations for good workplace culture as having supportive colleagues and good management; practical, flexible work arrangements; and a positive focus on the quality of work. These factors have shaped our recommendations to the profession.”

The report concluded by recommending a number of strategies that they deemed beneficial to workplace culture, citing:

• More flexibility in work arrangements and use of leave to accommodate life circumstances.
• Additional days of leave as time in lieu of extra hours worked or as “health and wellbeing” supports.
• Closer monitoring and redistribution of excessive workloads and more active and positive attention paid to employees by management.
• Evaluation, adoption or development of effective formal employee assistance programs (EAPs). Such programs should not be seen as a way of avoiding organisational responsibility for improving the culture and structure of legal workplaces by focusing on individual-level coping strategies.