Helping Lander & Rogers’ 1st year lawyers avoid burnout

Focussing on employee health and wellbeing in an industry prone to burnout

Lander & Rogers is a leading independent Australian law firm. Having grown organically since its establishment in 1946, Landers prioritises a highly cohesive culture sharing a strong work and client service ethic, as well as high staff and partner retention rates. In an industry with high rates of burnout, Landers has made employee health and wellbeing a focus. In 2019, the firm was awarded the Excellence in Employee Health & Wellbeing Award by the Australasian Law Awards and the Wellness Initiative of the Year at the Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards.

Helping grads develop the skills to thrive throughout their careers

In 2018, Landers’ Learning and Development Manager, Catherine Hueston was looking for new ways to help the firm's first-year lawyers manage their workload and prevent fatigue. Catherine says,

“I wanted something in our grad program that would help our new lawyers to create great working habits early in their career.”

The program was customised to ensure it hit the mark

Catherine hadn’t seen productivity training offered before, so was unsure how it would go.

“The Building 20 productivity training seemed like a great option, but I’d never seen it before. We were excited to see how the 2018 cohort would find it.”

Catherine worked closely with Building 20 to ensure the grad program was customised to the firm's needs and relevant to the future lawyers' work environment. The program included three workshops:

1. The fundamentals of workplace productivity

2. Analysing the grads’ productivity data; identifying the biggest challenges; and designing and testing solutions

3. Analysing the improvements and making sure the changes stick

We saved each grad 22.5 days per year

The 2018 program was implemented over a month and led to measurable improvements throughout the team. On average, team members saved 45 minutes per day by reducing distractions -- that’s an extra 22.5 days per year for each grad who went through the program. They also made big productivity improvements by understanding best practice ways of working, such as how to signal to colleagues that they’re doing deep work, as well as how to manage distractions and structure their day. The measurable time saving was equivalent to a 10:1 ROI given the cost of the program.

Content designed to engage

Landers’ Graduate Talent Acquisition Consultant, Marissa Cedro says,

“The Building 20 productivity program is something the grads really look forward to. The content is fascinating and delivered in a really interactive and engaging way.”

The 2018 program was a highlight of the year-long structured grad program and was delivered again in 2019. One of the 2019 graduate lawyers reflected,

“Having our productivity data shown to us was really powerful. But it was important to have the best practice approaches explained during the workshops to ensure we were changing our approach to work in the right ways.”

The 2020 grad program is being delivered in October and will be customised to ensure it covers best practice for remote working. Our approach is focussed on getting the best outcomes for the teams we work with. Marissa says,

“Building 20 has been amazing in planning the 2020 program. Our operating environment is very different from what it was in 2019, so it was important that our new lawyers get a different program”.