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Over the course of my career, I have worked at a number of law firms, both big and small. Although I recently opened up my own shop, I have prior experience as an associate at firms that offered an array of job perks and other incentives. Even though firms may think that job perks increase morale, my experiences demonstrate that the best way to motivate attorneys is to simply pay them more money.
One common perk at firms is free food, and several of the firms at which I worked offered free food to attorneys and staff. This job perk was apparently provided to boost morale and show associates that the partners cared about their employees. One of the small shops I worked at had bagels and pastries every Friday, and this was a welcome treat. The bagels were from a pretty awesome New York City bagel shop, so the food definitely met my standards. I regularly had two or even three bagels when they were offered on Fridays, since that firm paid associates low salaries, and I wanted to make up for the income gap by consuming free food! In addition, the firm had happy hours after work on most Fridays, and they would buy premium beer and snacks for attorneys at the office. Again, I had my fill of the free drinks and snacks in order to make up for my low salary at this firm.
However, the real issue with morale at that shop was compensation. The firm did not offer bonuses when I was there, and this was a sore subject among associates. In addition, the firm did not reimburse associates for bar dues, CLE expenses, and other costs associated with being an attorney. Of course, the firm probably didn’t spend an exorbitant amount of money on free bagels, snacks, and drinks, but this cash might have been enough to pay the bar dues of attorneys in the office. Paying for this expense or boosting compensation could have greatly impacted morale, and firm management should have considered doing this other than offering smaller job perks.
Sometimes, offering free food or other perks can actually backfire on partners. I once worked at another shop where the firm provided free pizza to associates on Fridays. This would have been a great treat, but office management regularly ordered pizza from the worst pizza shop in the entire city where we worked. I have absolutely no idea why we ordered pizza from this place — maybe the officer manager was getting a kickback for our order, or maybe the pizza was just super cheap. The complaints got so bad that we later alternated between this bad pizza place and a decent pizza shop that made pizza I didn’t need to pour garlic powder on to make palatable.
However, this compromise actually hurt morale at the office! The associates began referring to days we got pizza from the crappy shop as a “bad pizza day” and days we got pizza from the good pizza shop as a “good pizza day.” Whenever we complained about the food situation, or once suggested that we get healthier options every now and then, office management threatened to cancel pizza day entirely. This whole situation affected morale, since not considering our protests about the pizza selection proved that there was dysfunctional management in the office.
One of the biggest gripes at that shop was that nonlawyers had immense power over the attorneys, and the office manager controlling where we got pizza played into this narrative. Whenever there was a “bad pizza day,” we would regularly have tons of pizza left over that would be thrown out, since few people (except for cheapos like myself) were interested in wasting calories on the crappy pizza. If firm management devoted resources to compensation, instead of pizza days, I bet they could have better incentivized associates and avoided the office politics that came along with Pizza Fridays.
Another job perk that many firms provide to associates is swag with the firm’s logo on it. I’m not talking about pens, note pads, and other chotchkies that no one would ever consider to be a job perk. Rather, I’m talking about the more substantive items that firms provide to associates in order to both promote their brand and provide a gift to attorneys.
I have seen some amazing firm swag over the years. Probably the coolest item I’ve ever seen was a pretty sweet smartphone speaker dock with a top firm’s name emblazoned on the front. However, most of the time, firms are lazy with swag, and these items don’t really provide value to attorneys.
I once worked at a firm that went crazy with swag, and gave each associate a hat, golf shirt, vest (which made me feel like Marty McFly!), water bottle, water bottle koozie (but people called it a wine bottle koozie), smartphone charger, lunchbag (who would use this — we’re not school kids!), backpack, and probably some other crap I can’t even remember. Of all of these items, only the backpack (an expensive Tumi bag) really provided substantial value to associates. The backpack also helped attorneys protect their firm computers, and I got some nice compliments from other lawyers while wearing this bag. However, if firms do not provide useful swag to attorneys, they should just chuck the swag and pay associates more money. This will have a much greater impact on morale than gifting associates chintzy items.
All told, I understand why firms think they can spend a small sum of money on job perks and swag, and that this relatively minor investment will go a long way toward improving morale. However, the best way to incentivize associates and increase morale at a firm is to simply pay attorneys more money.
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.