Centralized v. Decentralized Human Resources We are seeing a trend toward decentralized HR capabilities. As firms attempt to put more HR fire power into large regional and international offices, they are getting away from having one “super expert” at the mother ship office. The move is to have a strong HR generalist in each office. Often, each of these generalists will have an area of expertise (benefits, training, payroll, etc.) and will then serve as the firm-wide guru. Advocates say it tracks their firm’s client service ethic by being able to handle more issues and respond to more questions on site rather than simply being a conduit to the home office. It also provide a more rewarding position for the local HR manager and provides them with greater growth potential for future career moves. Advocates also believe any increased salary cost is off set by fewer hiring mistakes and a reduction in lawyers’ and staffs’ Catbert view of the HR function.
How Not to Make a Bad Hire The affect of a bad hire on a law firm goes far beyond the wasted time and lost salary costs. One bad hire can do serious damage to a firm’s culture and cost the loss of valued employees. In fact, one of the most common motivations we see for staff members changing jobs is the introduction of a new administrator or department director who is not a good fit for the firm. Here are some things you can do to avoid a bad hire:
1. Know what you are looking for. Before you worry about job descriptions, lay out a clear set of expectations of what the person should accomplish in the first year, what their relationship should be with other people and what their role will be in the overall scheme of the firm. Then work backwards and describe the kind of person who can accomplish those things.
2. Don’t fall in love with one candidate. Occasionally we will see a firm become enamored with a candidate, sometimes the first resume they see. They will then virtually ignore all other candidates and some major red flags (the candidate’s references don’t return phone calls, some inconsistencies in the resume, etc.). As a recruiter we love to see a quick hire but not at the expense of a good hire.
3. Check references. Always check business and personal references – always! Ask tough questions: “Have you seen any evidence that this person uses drugs or alcohol to excess?” or “Other than vacation, approximately how many days off did this person take off over the past year.” In order to provide a favorable reference, most people are willing to bend the truth, but not break it. Ask specific, pointed questions.
4. Get a second opinion. As someone completely uninvolved with the hire to give you a cold read. Ask an attorney or a staff member from another department who will not be working with the person to do a quick (five minute) interview. Their first impression will mirror the first impressions of others in the firm who will not have the benefit of knowing the persons qualifications or having seen other candidates.
5. Avoid friends and family. It can be tough politically but do what you can to avoid candidates that are in anyway attached to partners or clients. Not only is this the greatest source of bad hires, it is among the toughest to fix. Suggestion: advise the person recommending a candidate to ask them to “send the resume directly to the recruiting firm and use my name as having ask them to give you early consideration.” Then feel free to blame the recruiting firm when the person doesn’t get hired. That’s part of what we get paid for.
Humor The other day we had an administer say to us, “if I wasn’t so busy laughing, I would cry.” A sense of humor plays a major role in the life of anyone working for or with law firms. In that spirit, we pass along two websites worth visiting. The first is www.rollonfriday.com. This is a UK site that is new every Friday and pokes fun at large (magic circle) UK law firms. It helps if you have a bit of a British sense of humor. The second is www.borowitzreport.com which has nothing to do with law but has a new “news story” every day.
Employee Benefits The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) released a new survey of employee benefits. While not directly about law firms, the survey is of interest because most law firms compete with corporations in recruiting for staff positions and, therefore, must be reasonably competitive with benefits. The take-aways from the survey are (1) despite increasing in health insurance cost, there continues to be increases in coverages (addition of vision, dental, and coverage options) and (2) continuing increases in the number of employers offering paid family leave (now 30% of those surveyed). For complete results go to www.shrm.org.
Legal Resource Group LLC specializes in serving the executive and administrative recruiting needs of law firms. We maintain the largest data base of law firm executive and Administrative staff in the world. This allows us to immediately identify the very best candidates. We find the best people, complete searches faster and have extremely reasonable fees. For further information, visit our website at www.LRGLLC.com , contact us by e-mail at inquiries@LRGLLC.com or by phone at 1-800-688-4147.
