Legal Burnout Solution

American Trucking and Transportation Company`s in-house legal team can attest to the transformative power of Legal Tech. Just by using our legal fee management software to automatically enforce billing policies, the department saved 55 hours per month! Discover their story and learn more about how SimpleLegal can save your legal team time, money and stress. Lawyers` commitment to their clients and their work often translates into an “I`ll sleep when I`m dead” mindset that creates an always-on culture that leaves little room for a break. Unforgiving hours of work, coupled with constant demands from management and clients, can lead to high levels of stress, burnout, and ultimately, burnout. What`s interesting is that many lawyers are trying to bring more work-life balance into their lives in hopes of fighting burnout, with 80% saying it`s a critical measure of success. The difficulty of finding this balance in the world of law remains a real and serious problem. Don`t feel pressured to tackle burnout alone. There are many useful tools out there, including those designed specifically for lawyers. As the New York State Bar Association`s Task Force on Lawyer Wellness noted in its October 2021 report, “We face the same challenges, we understand each other in ways that others, even family members, often cannot. When we embrace our community and recognize our responsibility to one another, we can move from pursuit to shared success.

If you don`t know what challenges your employees are facing, it`s hard to take proactive steps to address them. We recommend that you use at least one of the following regular check-in methods to encourage open conversations and collaborative solutions between you and your team members: Also reach out to other departments to find out how they approach burnout in their teams and if there are common resources they recommend, such as an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). If you find that everyone is struggling to deal with employee burnout, it`s time for team leaders to raise the issue with senior management. Together, you can take the initiative to create a work environment that promotes employee well-being in all departments. If you don`t have a project manager, turn to legal software to get an idea of who`s working on what. You can easily filter different projects by categories such as subject matter manager and practice area to determine where workload reassignments make the most strategic sense. Lawyer burnout can take many forms, including fatigue, social withdrawal, headaches and absenteeism. But perhaps the most serious symptoms of burnout are inefficiency and neglect of details — important areas for any practicing lawyer.

With the intense work demands and importance of charging the most hours, businesses depend on efficient and thorough lawyers to be profitable. The sooner you start tackling workloads with this framework in mind, the better you`ll be able to identify instances of burnout and the warning signs of burnout. If your team has a project manager, work with them to review and rebalance the workload to reduce overtime and reach the “sweet spot” of 70-80% as much as possible. There is no understatement: in-house lawyers are in trouble. An October 2021 Gartner survey found that 54% of in-house lawyers said they had experienced some level of burnout. Of those who experienced the highest levels of chronic stress and fatigue, 61% admitted to “frequently delaying or killing projects” and 68% intended to quit their job. Dennis Garcia, Microsoft`s deputy general counsel, points to another key element that legal leaders should consider to mitigate burnout in their teams: legal technology. Garcia explains that investing in these automated solutions reduces the number of “routine daily tasks” employees have to perform.

This gives them valuable time and energy to focus on more strategic and fulfilling work – which is key to boosting employee engagement. If the idea of fighting burnout sounds overwhelming, you`re not alone. Burnout is a complex and nuanced issue, pervasive in many industries outside of the legal department. Fortunately, there are important steps you can take to make the problem more manageable. If you send emails to employees at any time of the day, send the message that they should do the same. If you set your own personal work-life limits, your internal team will feel more comfortable setting theirs – and it will help you mitigate burnout on your end. As Kate Sherburn notes, there is “a correlation between leadership that prioritizes well-being and a successful business that avoids burnout.” In addition to the overall health and well-being of employees, burnout significantly increases the risk of turnover, causing companies to lose billions of dollars in recruitment costs each year. Depending on the size of the firm, the National Association for Law Placement found that the loss of a single employee can cost anywhere from $200,000 to $500,000. Gartner`s corporate law survey found that “personally fulfilling work” has the greatest impact on employee engagement, a factor linked to burnout. As 360Learning`s Frederique Campbell noted, if employees don`t see career or purpose potential in their work, they`re more likely to mentally retire or quit. On the other hand, Gartner found that compared to those who were “moderately engaged” in their work, highly dedicated lawyers were: A simple sincere “thank you” goes a long way in the workplace. According to the Reward and Employee Benefits Association, the likelihood of burnout increases by 29% if you don`t consistently recognize employees.

In addition, a 10-year study by O.C. Tanner found that 79% of people quit their jobs saying it was because of a lack of appreciation. As Gartner`s survey notes, the most “intuitive” way to combat lawyer burnout is to rebalance the workload, starting with the most overworked employees.