Starting Work
Law firms should consider the lessons learned by lots of small businesses, many of which offer perks or peak experiences to retain their best people. Let’s ace it, a peak experience (sky-diving, a Nine Inch Nails concert, two months paid leave after 6 years of employment) is likely to be remembered long after a cash bonus or salary increase is spent on paid bills. Besides, payments of cash bonuses, just like periodic raises, create an expectation that such outlays will recur with some regularity.
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Beyond Cash
February 04, 2007
In the law firm community, everyone is atwitter about new associate salaries. Just a few weeks ago, one of the large NYC firms announced that they would raise the starting salary for a new associate to $160,000 per year. Within hours, other NYC law firms were matching the increase. And the momentum is gaining in other locales to do the same.
All of which strikes me as utterly silly. I’ve informally interviewed lots of new and young associates, asking them whether more money would cause them to choose one firm over another. Consistently, the young lawyers have responded in the negative. When asked what they would really like to receive, consistently young associates say “feedback” and lots of it.
Law firms should consider the lessons learned by lots of small businesses, many of which offer perks or peak experiences to retain their best people. Let’s ace it, a peak experience (sky-diving, a Nine Inch Nails concert, two months paid leave after 6 years of employment) is likely to be remembered long after a cash bonus or salary increase is spent on paid bills. Besides, payments of cash bonuses, just like periodic raises, create an expectation that such outlays will recur with some regularity.
The NEXTers that are entering today’s workplace, at least for now, value time over money. To keep those new employees, organizations will need to find ways to reward NEXTers beyond throwing cash at them.
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