We are Talentwise Solutions, a boutique legal recruitment agency based in Coventry. We partner with many of the regional law firms based in Coventry and Warwickshire, and are one of the main sponsors of The Warwickshire Law Society.
We recently carried out a review of the employee benefits offered by more than 20 regional law firms based in the Coventry and Warwickshire area, so we thought it would be useful to share our findings with you.
Why not have a look and see where your firm compares?
Annual Leave
The average number of annual leave offered by the firms we reviewed was 23 days per year plus bank holidays. The majority of firms also close over the Christmas shutdown period and offer this period as additional leave and don’t require staff to retain this out of their annual leave.
The lowest annual leave offered was 20 days per year plus bank holidays, and the most offered was 28 days per year plus bank holidays.
In addition to the this, all but 3 of the firms we reviewed offer an additional day off on an employee’s birthday.
35% of the firms also offer a holiday buy and sell scheme where employees can buy or sell up to 5 days of annual leave each year.
Hybrid Working
Most candidates that we speak with are looking for hybrid working, and if this isn’t offered, it’s a dealbreaker for many legal professionals.
Our research shows that the average level of hybrid working offered to fully qualified lawyers is 2-3 days week working from home with the remainder of the days in the office.
The reasons given by candidates for wanting hybrid working vary, but the most common reasons are more control and flexibility over their work schedule and home life, as well as cutting down commuting time and costs.
Candidates are also happy to commute further for 2-3 days per week in the office, as opposed to 5 days per week in the office, so if you don’t offer hybrid working, then it limits the number of potential candidates who could consider joining your organisation.
Many candidates are looking for flexibility around their hours too to fit around childcare responsibilities, and if firms are not able to offer this, they are missing out on many highly talented and skilled legal professionals.
Private Healthcare
75% of the law firms that we researched offer a private healthcare plan to their Qualified Lawyers, and 40% of the firms offer this to all employees.
NHS waiting lists hit a record high in 2023, and unfortunately, the situation seems unlikely to improve any time soon. As a result of this, private healthcare benefits are now one of the most valued of all employee benefits.
One report we looked at revealed that around 80% of jobseekers compare company healthcare plans when considering which roles to apply for.
Death in Service
50% of the firms we reviewed offer a Death in Service benefit. The average offered was 3x the employee’s annual salary, and the highest offered was 4x the employee’s annual salary.
Professional Development
Around 60% of the firms that we reviewed offer financial support towards professional qualifications e.g. STEP qualification, CILEX qualifications and more.
With around 40% of the candidates we have registered in the last 6 months citing lack of progression and development opportunities as their reason for looking to leave their current firm, this is something that’s extremely attractive to candidates, along with career progression plans, and mentoring support.
Mental Health Benefits
According to mental health charity Mind, 60% of employees say they’d feel more motivated if their employer took action to support their mental wellbeing. Many of the firms we reviewed offer benefits to support positive employee mental health including benefits like employee assistance programmes including counselling and bereavement support, meditation app subscriptions, subsidised gym memberships, company wellness days and cycle to work schemes.
Additional Benefits
In addition to the above, some other areas to note from our findings that can be make or break for a candidate deciding whether to accept a job offer:
- Free Parking – 85% of the firms we researched provide free parking to their employees, either on site or paid for by the firm in a close by car park.
- Hours of Work – The definition of ‘full time’ varies from firm to firm. We found that the most common hours of work per week for a full-time employee was 36.25 hours (50%). A third of the organisations operate on a 35 hour working week (33%), and the remaining organisations operate on a 37.5 hour working week (just 17%).
- Enhanced Pension – Only 20% of the firms we reviewed offer an enhanced pension scheme where the firm contributes higher than the minimum requirement.
- Enhanced Sick Pay and Maternity Pay – This is offered by around 40% of the firms that we researched.
- Bonus Schemes – This is something that was offered by 100% of the firms that we reviewed for Fee Earners.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we are still very much in a candidate short market in 2024 and the competition for top talent is fierce. Excellent candidates will generally be able to pick and choose from a number of offers of employment when they decide to move to a new law firm.
A lot of these firms and job roles will be very similar, so it’s important to be competitive when it comes to your overall benefits package to help you to secure great people for your firm.
If you have any questions on any of the information in this article, or if you’d like to see how we Talentwise Solutions can support you with either a job vacancy, or with your own job search, please do get in touch. We’re always happy to chat!
02477 981223 / admin@talentwisesolutions.co.uk
