. . and does money really solve the happiness problem? Well, in part ‘Yes’

A new survey has shown that lawyers in the UK (not just England) are among the unhappiest anyway, due to the pandemic in part, which made 41 per cent of those surveyed saying it had made management refocus their attention on the happiness of the staff. An equal percentage said they were either neutral or unhappy at work.

The survey, reported in FNLondon and conducted by market research company Censuswide surveyed over 1600 lawyers across the United Kingdom, UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong and China.

And in London, law firms were working on not just their massive salary increases, as we have previously reported, but also using resilience training from ex soldiers (Macfarlanes), dogs in the office (Slaughter & May) and a variety of perks to perk up the legal staff. But things continue to wain on the happiness front.

Law and banking has seen a particularly high attrition rate among staff following the pandemic with 58 per cent of UK lawyers and a total of 74 per cent of all respondents saying employee happiness was a major concern for their firm.

Firms in the UK like Akin Gump and Goodwin have lifted their NQ salaries and the survey showed that around 62 per cent of lawyers said money was the most important factor in making themselves happy at work, but around three-quarters of those surveyed said that a supportive and inclusive environment was more important even than money.

But the pay increases also signal bumper profits being made by the major firms and as the world becomes more connected the ability to take a good break also becomes more difficult. So lawyers are not getting the breaks to the extent that the previous generation did.

Lawyers, UK