December 6, 2007
State of the Perk
You’ll recall that at the end of each year we summarize the most innovative benefits offered to employees by law firms over the past year. Here, in no particular order, is our top 10 list for 2007:
- Sullivan & Cromwell guarantees the first $100,000 of a mortgage for associates who have been with the firm for at least six months.
- DLP Piper reimburses all employees $2,000 if they buy a hybrid car. Fulbright & Jaworski offers reimbursements to employees who purchase a Subaru, Nissan or General Motors vehicle.
- All sorts of firms offer extended sabbaticals. The hot new purpose is to work on a political campaign.
- Fried Frank offers employees an EAP that includes a personal issues coach for employees to deal with stressful situations like divorce.
- Crowell & Moring has regularly scheduled fine wine parties including fancy hors de oeuvres.
- Dechert and a number of other firms offer emergency nanny services in which the firm finds and sends a nanny to an associate’s home.
- Looking for something to do with that interior office no one wants? Kilpatrick Stockton has a nap room for people feeling sleepy during the day.
- O’Melveny & Myers provides in-office yoga classes.
- Cravath lawyers who work late can have dinner delivered on a silver tray from the Palm restaurant. A number of firms offer staffed Starbucks coffee bars in the employee lunch room.
- Perkins Coie has a “happiness committee” that is responsible for random acts of kindness such as placing a candied apple on everyone’s desk.
International Recruiting
A significant problem for Australian and New Zealand firms is the “overseas experience.” Professionals, after completing college and working in their career for a couple of years, go for a “walkabout,” usually heading for Canada or England. Australian and Kiwi firms go to great lengths to maintain ties to these people so that they will eventually return to their old firm.
White & Case is turning the tables a bit with a display ad we came across in a Sydney legal publication:
While we are not aware of any firms installing the concept as a formal program, we know of a number of law firms that use contacts with employment agencies in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to recruit secretaries, paralegals and other skilled staff for positions on temporary work visas. Firms find that the visiting workers have stronger skills and are more motivated than available U.S. workers …and they have cool accents. HR in a Box
Smaller law firms and regional offices of larger law firms are finding that some out of the box software programs provide tremendous functionality at a reasonable price. The number one usage is performance evaluation software, with attendance and employee recordkeeping software coming in second and third, respectively. As one regional office administrator told us, “We’re using an out of the box attendance software product until the firm-wide system gets rolled out here. But, comparing the two, I like ours better and it costs a fraction of what the enterprise system cost.” The High Cost of Health Care
It probably comes as no surprise that cost of firm sponsored health plans are the largest employment cost after salary. The average firm spends $7,983 per employee, up 6.1 percent from last year. Although the growth is far less than the 15% increases earlier in the decade, it is still going up at twice the rate of inflation. According to a Mercer Associates survey, 34 percent of employers in all sectors make same sex domestic partner coverage available, up from 29% last year. Preparing for Boomer Retirements
We attempted to do an informal telephone survey of how law firms prepare for the retirement of senior administrative staff members. The answer was – they don’t. We spoke with 13 administrators (including CFOs, CIOs, CHRO, etc) who retired or announced their retirement thus far this year. Only one of the people we interviewed retired on their schedule. The primary reason for extending retirement dates is that their firm did nothing about recruiting for a replacement or transferring knowledge until the last minute. The good news for retirees is that firms are almost routinely entering into consulting arrangements with departing administrators to maintain access to their knowledge. One New York firm CFO who has been retired for 12 years said that he is still on a consulting contract with the firm. Apparently no one else can perform the complex calculation for benefits under their non-qualified partner pension plan.
One HR Director we spoke with has started her own knowledge transfer program. She has divided her job into five critical areas and is going about teaching a different member of the HR department each area. She believes that, by dividing the knowledge, the job of succession training becomes less overwhelming. New I-9 Forms
You probably already know this but employers will be required to use a new Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9) starting December 26, 2007, or risk fines and penalties. The biggest change is that the new form removes a number of documents from “List A” that employers may accept from new hires. The only acceptable documents to establish both identity and employment eligibility are:
- U.S. passport
- Permanent Resident Care or Alien Registration Receipt Card
- Unexpired foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp.
- Unexpired Employment Authorization Document that contains a photograph.
- Unexpired foreign passport with an unexpired “Arrival-Departure Record” containing an endorsement of the alien’s non-immigration status and authorization to work.
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.
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