Flexibility trumps pay for the first-time in a new study of the top priorities of lawyers, and the pandemic appears to be the cause. While the statistical difference is small, it marks a significant change from prior studies. Time will tell if the trend continues as remote legal jobs continue to proliferate and candidates are flocking to them in droves. Even before the pandemic, many companies offered remote or hybrid work environments that allowed their personnel to strive for a better work-life balance than an all-office work environment. Certainly, remote work is having a big effect on the salary wars currently impacting the legal industry.
“The ability to work flexibly has narrowly beaten pay as the top priority for lawyers entering the jobs market, new research has shown. Some 83% of lawyers said that flexible working would be important to them if they were to look for a new job, while 81% said the same about money. Breaking the figures down further, 51% of lawyer respondents said that flexible working would be very important to them, while just 41% said that a pay rise would be. This is the first time flexibility has overtaken pay in legal recruitment consultancy Realm Recruit’s annual survey of legal professionals. In last year’s findings, 81% of lawyers ranked pay as their number one priority, which is the same as this year, while 70% said flexible working.”
Read: Flexibility trumps pay as lawyers top priority, research shows – Legal Cheek