A survey in July by brand consultants Industry highlights a significant generational shift in what recent graduates and established solicitors value in potential employers. Here Industry’s Sholto Lindsay-Smith explains what it means for professional services firms and their brand.
As a Boomer parent, with Zoomer children now in the professional workforce, should I expect them to reflect all the attitudes and values they were brought up with, or represent the values and attitudes of their generation?
The truth is, we have more in common than apart. And that makes a good place to start when building an employer brand that has multi-generational appeal. But there are some important differences that professional services firms need to anticipate.
Today we have four generations in the workforce: Gen Z (born 1997-2012), known as Zoomers; Millennials (born 1981-1996); Gen X (born 1965-1980); and Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964). Millennials will be the dominant cohort by 2025. But it is Gen Z, shaped by the experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and digital dependence, that have the most different expectations of work. This new generation will make up over half of the workforce by 2030, in just under six years.
Given that changing company culture is like turning an ocean tanker, work on shaping an attractive workplace environment for the Gen Z workforce should start now.
Our newly published 2024 Industry Benchmark Legal Brand Survey sheds some light on what’s important. The survey asked both graduates and law students seeking a role as well lawyers working in private practice who are established in their careers to rate the importance of 18 criteria when choosing a law firm to work for. There are some similarities and some stark contrasts.
Established lawyers prioritise reputational factors: ‘a strong reputation in the industry’, ‘a reputation for business acumen’, and ‘a reputation for strong customer service’. Lower in importance, but still important are ‘opportunities for career progression’ and ‘work-life balance’. The latter is perhaps a response to a post-pandemic world and the benefits of hybrid working which they would be reluctant to sacrifice.
Graduates and law students place ‘work-life balance’ and ‘a friendly and supportive working culture’ right at the top of their list of priorities. These factors ranked significantly higher than more traditional drivers of job choice, such as top quartile pay. Interestingly, having an ‘attractive working environment’ also ranked relatively highly compared to established lawyers. Taken in combination the importance of these factors suggest that the next generation anticipate a return to the office and are concerned about having a happy work-life. There may well be a tension here with more established lawyers, with families, who are happier working from home.
Graduates also rated ‘a fast-growing firm’, ‘a strong reputation for customer service’ and ‘strong investment in technology’ as being important. Having ‘a clear social purpose’ and ‘a clear commitment to diversity’ also ranked more highly for graduates than for lawyers established in their career. These are all indicators of more progressive and forward-looking firms that may be seen to offer greater career advancement opportunities, job security and future success.
What does this all mean for your employer brand strategy? The answer is probably to tilt the strategy towards appealing to the next generation. The survey insights suggest there are three important things to focus on:
The first is your core purpose. It is not enough to have a core purpose statement – you need a core purpose that is meaningful, differentiating and most of all, one that resonates with your people. The cookie cutter platitude of ‘Improving the lives of our colleagues, customers and communities’ will not suffice.
The second is your culture. Having a collegiate, friendly culture is a good starting point. But what else is it about your culture that binds your people together and marks your firm apart? Thinking about the type of attitude you want your people to display with clients is a good starting point.
The third is your office environment. This is going to become more important again. The next generation will want to come to work to learn from others, to socialise, to advance their careers and experience being part of something.
Those firms that do these things well will be able to forge a stronger sense of identity and team spirit that will result in a people advantage.
If you would like a copy of the full report it’s available to download via our website: https://www.industrybranding.com/legalsurvey2024/
Sholto Lindsay-Smith, Director and Head of Strategy at Industry. Industry is an international brand and business consultancy. It specialises in working with corporate and professional services clients to build long term competitive advantage through brand. He has led rebrand programmes for a range of accounting and law firms in the UK and internationally.