Founding Partner, Michelle Foster, Featured in Above The Law on Legal Talent Retention
/Why ‘Stay Interviews’ Might Help Law Firms And Companies Retain Legal Talent
Exit interviews often reveal to law firms and legal departments at companies why lawyers are leaving, thus making them a day late and a dollar short.
The Great Reshuffle is becoming a battleground for companies and firms to compete and fight over who’s giving more employee flexibility, better perks (not just bonuses and salary increases), and a continuation of remote-work opportunities or hybrid-work environments. As a result, stay interviews are becoming increasingly popular in the workplace to retain talent and help organizations improve employee morale.
The legal profession has openly discussed the staggering effects on the mental health impact of higher-than-normal workloads and ungodly billable hours, yet it’s rare to see law firms conduct stay interviews with associates. Exit interviews often reveal to law firms and legal departments at companies why lawyers are leaving, thus making them a day late and a dollar short.
Statistics show that over the last year, compensation costs in Am Law 50 firms (where bonuses are most common), rose by 16%.
Stay interviews might be the overlooked answer to retaining lawyers and in house counsels during one of the hottest times of career transition in the legal industry. Stay interviews are much more informal in nature, yet they serve an important purpose to help companies and law firms maintain lawyer morale and retention. While not as common as an exit interview, the stay interview creates accountability for the firm or company to improve the overall employee experience.
Lawyer Retention in Law Firms
Michelle Foster, Managing Partner of The Foster Group, an attorney search firm that places attorneys at top law firms and companies, advises the increase in demand for legal services has impacted both associate and partner-level roles. “At the associate level, there is a segment of associates who have benefited from the compensation increases without leaving their firm and are therefore, now interested in other factors, such as flexible work arrangements, promotions and a clearer path to partnership. At the partner level, there is an impressive cross-section of firms actively hiring in the lateral market, looking more broadly than they have previously.'“
Foster also advises, “Firms can utilize different internal structures, such as providing varying hours tracks to recognize the shifting ways in which employees are viewing their work life balance, without taking them off partnership-track.”
With lawyers bouncing from firm to firm, and high salaries failing to be the end-all-be-all for law firm happiness, something must give. Stay interviews can serve to upskill lawyers in areas of needed improvement or advance professional development.
An example of emphasizing professional development within a firm is recently seen by Sidley Austin’s launch of its MBA-level development program along with career coaching to advance the careers, business acumen, and leadership opportunities for its associates.
Questions To Ask In A Stay Interview
Stay interviews can build greater trust and consensus with law firm and in-house counsels to create open dialogue. Valuable questions include: Do you feel you are being supported in your role? What can be done to increases support for you? What skills can we better utilize for your role and is there professional development (i.e., a certification in data privacy or advanced training) that could increase your skills? Are you satisfied with your work? What can be done to increase work satisfaction?
The key with stay interviews is to show that firm or company employees are valued and to ensure your firm’s top performers (and potential future leaders and partners) will continue to thrive. The stay interview should be conducted with the direct supervising attorney in a one-on-one conversational setting and reported up to the executive (equity) partners as well as HR business partners.
When To Conduct Stay Interviews
As far as the timeline of when to conduct stay interviews, considerations include the midyear point (or after six months of employment) and recurring every six months or year. The key is to make them a place where the employee can openly and transparently discuss things the law firm or company can be doing better to support the lawyer’s professional goals, suggest ways to provide ongoing support and resources, and increase scope of responsibilities (i.e., create promotional opportunities) for the lawyers to thrive and success.
Through a stay interview, a company or law firm will gain deeper insight into ways to retain currently employed lawyers or in-house counsel. But these suggestions cannot sit in a vacuum. They must be applied and implemented. Are firms willing to take the rest run to leverage stay interviews?