Law Firm uses Employee surveys to improve client and employee experience

Law Firm Employee Surveys improve client experience and double turnover.

Gardner Leader is an award-winning law firm that has seen expansive growth in the past seven years. Last year’s turnover of over £7.7m million marks dramatic growth since the £3.3m turnover of 2012. Growth of that magnitude doesn’t come easy.

Gardner Leader was our first law firm employee survey client; we are delighted to have supported them through this important period and to share their experiences here.

The Challenge

A motivated and engaged workforce is important to all organisations and even more in service based industries where the customer experience relies on employee performance.

A major part of the leadership role during difficult times is managing employee anxiety yet a typical reaction of managers is to stop communicating with their people.

No matter how well intended, this lack of transparency can actually create distrust and break down levels of commitment and engagement.

Embracing change to deliver peace of mind is part of the culture at Thames Valley law firm Gardner Leader LLP. Continuous improvement is key to the firm and its people, evidenced by one of the firm’s values; ‘We all aim to make every part of our business better every day’.

The Gardner Leader management team recognised they needed to understand how their people were feeling, what impact this may be having on their customers and identify how and where they could make improvements.

Initial Results

Gardner Leader asked People Essentials to carry out a survey, having recognised working with a professional and independent provider would increase confidence that responses would be anonymous, lead to more honest and open feedback, and provide better insight into the findings.

People Essentials recommended using their 3Ease survey to carry out a general ‘temperature-check’ including employee satisfaction, commitment, engagement and the drivers of engagement.

Derek Rodgers, Managing Partner, recalls; “This first survey received an 86 percent response; people appreciated being given the opportunity to voice their feelings and were keen to express an opinion, and our management team were provided with valuable insight into what had helped keep people loyal through the tougher times as well as what could support, or hinder, our future plans for the firm.”

This first survey identified strengths and opportunities across a number of areas. A key finding was a weakness in communication. The survey identified that better and more focused communication was necessary to maintain trust in the firm’s leaders, build the sense of belonging and continue to improve overall engagement.

Over the next couple of years, the firm saw an increase in engagement by focusing on actions to improve communication. Derek Rodgers explains his approach to gaining buy-in and commitment to objectives; “It is based on two main strands: engaging all of our people and ensuring that we are open to new ideas.” Derek has encouraged as much transparency and openness across the firm as is possible, leading by example in the way that he shares information about the firm’s performance and plans. An active commitment from all managers, regular newsletters and a company-wide intranet, among other things, combined to give employees a much clearer understanding of the firm, its ambitions, the importance of their role and its contribution to the bigger picture.

Evolve has proved to be an ideal way to introduce people from different geographical and commercial areas of the business who, in the normal course of their working routine, would have little or no contact. They form close bonds by working together towards a shared goal. Each cycle is championed by a senior manager promoting open dialogue and the building of relationships across all levels and areas of the business, giving people the opportunity to get involved on wider issues and another way to get their ideas and opinions heard.

Now in its 17^th cycle, Evolve has a real momentum and continues to make valuable contributions, as Lynn Digby, HR Director, highlights: “It can be very hard for an individual member of staff to raise a question or query an existing policy or procedure, but with Evolve aspects of the business that may be of concern to more than one individual may surface. We are then able as a firm to work together and produce a positive outcome.”

The team of eight who worked on the most recent cycle looked at how the career progression path for the non-lawyers within the firm could be enhanced. Previous projects have included the complete restructuring of the induction process for all new starters, something that Lynn openly acknowledges they would not have reviewed and changed so radically had they not had Evolve, and a new fixed fee appointment process for the family law team.

In addition to these practical outcomes the firm has seen a steady rise in employee and customer retention throughout this period. Customer satisfaction/engagement is high and employee engagement has increased by more than 10 percent since 2011.

Continuous Improvement

Anyone who has been at the helm of a flourishing business is only too aware of how hard it can be to transition from a relatively small but successful business to one operating from multiple sites.

Regular monitoring and feedback from People Essentials has helped Derek and his team to learn from honest, anonymous employee feedback, developing on strengths and improving areas identified in the surveys. This invaluable information has contributed to the growth and success of the firm.

“By using an independent, neutral company to analyse the findings we get a far more honest picture. People Essentials’ methodology and insight has helped us to identify and prioritise actions that in turn have helped us achieve our goals and this includes highlighting those areas where we could be stronger,” said Derek Rodgers.

Now with a team of nearly 140 spread across three offices, Derek believes this strategy has been key to Gardner Leader delivering excellent service, adopting new practices, maintaining stability through times of change and in the successful merger with Heath Buckeridge in Maidenhead.

“Happy and engaged staff lead to happy and loyal clients, which then leads to growth.”

With this approach to constant evaluation and improvement it is no surprise that Gardner Leader is going from strength to strength and establishing a reputation for quality and service.