I know that even seemingly easy decisions become more complex when other people and relationship are involved, however I still find myself amazed at the number of law firms I’ve visited lately where the attorneys are wedded to their support staff regardless of the quality of work or how much it’s costing them in money, time, and energy.
Support staff is supposed to be there to make the life of the attorney easier and allow him or her to focus time on more valuable matters. It often starts out that way and then you start to realize all the headaches that can start to creep in with managing time, turnover, training, quality, etc. A relationship that is supposed to free up you time can just as easily start to eat at it.
Going even a step further, I’ve seen a handful of examples where firms have so much support staff that the focus shifts to making sure there is enough work to keep them busy. It may be time to reevaluate how you fulfill your staffing needs.
Outsourced or virtual staffing can provide all the benefit of in-house staff and alleviate nearly all the managerial headaches that come along with them. You don’t need to worry about keeping them busy, you only need to worry about keeping yourself busy because you can use virtually support staff how and when you need them. In addition, they have the ability to grow with you without any addition hiring, training or managing on your part.
On top of all this, the full cost of in-house staff including payroll taxes, etc, is generally more than twice the cost of looking elsewhere to fulfill your support needs.
I understand employee relationships and employee loyalty, but at what point does that become an anchor that prevents your firm from reaching its full potential in terms of efficiency, productivity, and profitability? When you find yourself thinking of hiring someone new, take a look at the needs your have because chances are there is an alternative solution that will provide you exactly what you’re looking for and make your bottom line look a whole lot better along the way.