Spot bonuses of cash may be a wishful gleam in the eye for most, but some law departments have programs to reward members with an immediate check effort above and beyond the norm (See my post of Nov. 8, 2007: on-the-spot awards.). Such seemingly beneficent programs bump into many nettles.…
An article in strategy + business, Summer 2008 at 42, mentions that many Human Resources organizations track the number of job offers made by the law department and accepted. Such a metric might be insightful for large law departments that with some regularity bring aboard new lawyers. It would be…
Benefits, in the context of compensation, I define as monetary fillips for an employee, as distinct from entitlements and perquisites, which cannot be converted to money or save money but do cost the company. By that definition, benefits include employer matching contributions to 401K plans, other kinds of supplemental pension…
One word that ought to be banned from thoughtful writing and speaking is the word “resource” when it describes a human being who does something. What galvanized me to write this tiny diatribe is a recent post of mine that quoted a general counsel as referring to a law firm’s…
A profile of Respironics’ general counsel, Steve Fulton, has dotted throughout four commendable people practices in his department. Strong hires and strong retention. During Fulton’s 13-year tenure, “I have never needed to terminate an attorney and none of the attorneys I hired has left” as quoted in GC Mid-Atlantic, June…
Of the four drivers of employee engagement (See my posts of Jan. 10, 2008: “business” and May 29, 2008: “boss.”), the final in a “b” quartet I call “briefs,” which stands for the actual work done by lawyers. The work itself is classic motivator for professionals. As professionals, inside attorneys…
Regarding the four drivers of employee engagement (See my posts of Jan. 10, 2008: “business” and May 29, 2008: “boss.”), the third is what I dubbed “buddies.” Your colleagues who work with you day after day are often what creates an engaged employee. If you like the people around you,…
A piece in GC Mid-Atlantic, June 2008 at 8-9, describes the role Steve Fulton, the general counsel of $1.2 billion in revenue Respironics. His legal team consists of nine attorneys and three support personnel. The article comments that Fulton “wears two hats. He is responsible for ensuring that all of…
For six months in 1995, Steve Fulton served as the general counsel of Respironics on a half-time basis and as an employment-law partner at Reed Smith. Speaking to a reporter for GC Mid-Atlantic, June 2008 at 8, Fulton remembers the period as “the hardest six months of my life.” When…
In law departments, titles are important for showing where someone stands in the hierarchy, for morale, and for status (See my posts of Jan. 27, 2006: titles should reflect and explain the work staff does; Jan. 24, 2006: try to match lawyer grade/titles to client grade/titles; Dec. 10, 2005: titles…