The LexisNexis Bellwether Report into Stress in the Legal Profession identified that over 76% of solicitors felt that stress/mental well being was an issue in the sector and over 66% were experiencing high stress at work.
Despite these results, four out of five solicitors still reported high levels of job satisfaction and 91% of respondents were confident about their futures in the profession.
So is it just accepted that stress is a normal part of the job?
The Health & Safety Executive defines stress as:
the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them.
Law is a demanding profession with constant pressure to achieve targets in areas such as time recording, billing and client care. That pressure, combined with the need to always be available to clients due to modern technology, leaves little time to rest and recuperate from the demands of the job.
A Report by the Centre of Economic and Business Research published in 2017 identified that workplace absences cost employees £17 billion a year, which is predicted to rise to £21 billion by 2020. A major contributor to the costs was determined to be the 71.9% increase in mental health issues since 2011, affecting people between the ages of 30-40 years the hardest, thought to be due to balancing the demands of family, work and other financial pressures.
So how are law firms dealing with this?
There is a belief in the sector that smaller firms are better than large firms in fostering a supportive environment/culture. However, the level of stress does not hinge on the size of the firm and the same issues leading to work place stress still arise in smaller firms as they do in bigger firms.
With one in four respondents identifying they are suffering high levels of stress, and of the review that more can be done to support them, solicitors are not only experiencing stress but struggling with it. The lack of awareness of the impact of stress in the work place – on performance, home life and general well being – means there is a lack of insight on how to improve the position for employees. However with many solicitors simply accepting stress as inevitable and acceptable, law firms will continue to lag behind other industries in prioritising mental well being.
The Bellwether Report is available at https://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/research-and-reports/stress-in-the-legal-profession-problematic-or-inevitable.html#form
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