A growing trend in law firms is the creation of profit pools within practice groups where the performance of the overall group effects individual compensation. Not surprisingly, a few firms have implemented similar programs for staff functions. 

The performance of groups such as accounting and billing or secretarial groupings requires that the entire team coordinate their activities and work toward the overall good of the firm. As one firm’s office administrator told us, “With individual evaluations, as long as a secretary keeps the assigned lawyers happy, he or she can pretty well do what they want. It’s murder trying to get overflow work done.” With team evaluations there is recognition of both individual and group performance. Other HR Directors told us it was a natural fold in to their 360 evaluations.