In today's Detroit Free Press, columnist Margarita Bauza writes, "Companies that respond to deamnds for reduced-worl arrangements are being rewarded with increased productivity, talent retention and improved employee relations, says Ellen Ernst Kossek, a workplace researcher at Michigan State University". She goes to cite a study undertaken over the last six years which finds that reduced work loads increased in 60% of firms polled and finds:
- Retention of talent was the top reason for reduced work load arrangemnets
- Hard economic times did not have a negative effect on reduced-load arrangements
Law firms will probably be slowest in adopting reduced work load for their associates, who ironically, likely need it the most. The billable requirements for associates at law firms nation-wide are almost impossible to attain without significant sacrifice in either quality of work or quality of life for associates, or a mix of the two. Much attention is being called to the system of billable hours and the absurdity of expecting associates to honestly bill for work when billable requirements are essentially impossible to reach (see the post dated 11/28/05 "The Billable Hours: Are its days numbered?"
By utilizing outsourcing as a tool to reduce workload pressure and strain on associates, law firms, can stand to gain significantly in morale and job satisfaction of their attorneys--all the while increasing productivity which results in happier clients. Law firms, no matter how huge can improve the quality of life of their associates by integrating legal outsourcing into their work. 15 years ago, heads of law firms would have laughed/scoffed at the idea that associates could reserach law on their computers without opening a single library book. Today those same law firm heads have realized the immense benefit of using Lexis and Westlaw. Similarly, while legal outsourcing may have its detractors now, it's only a matter of time before law firms realize that the last laugh is on them.
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