Legal productivity is being slammed by a toxic work culture according to a recent survey from across the pond. This may come as no surprise to legal workers here in the United States, as the relentless pressure of law practice often creates a toxic culture in law departments. In many cases, this comes from the management level with toxic bosses and “pie-duckers” rampant in some companies. What can be done? Ref0rm is needed, but the legal profession is not known for embracing change, and when it does, it often comes glacially rather than when needed to ameliorate the real problems at hand. In many cases, legal professionals are forced to fend for themselves and some have found that turning toxic co-workers into allies is one way they can make their work environment more bearable. While helping enable a legal professional to maintain a level of legal productivity, it does not address the root cause of the situation in most cases. Change is needed, but with compensation at all time highs many lawyers choose to remain silent and take the good with the bad while doing some behind the scenes planning to make a move to a less hostile environment.
“Half of legal workers say their productivity has been impacted by ‘toxic workplace culture’, new research has found. The findings, produced by software business Culture Shift, further show almost two fifths (38%) of those surveyed have been less engaged with their roles as a result of their workplace culture, while a little over a fifth (21%) having taken time off due to an incident which occurred at work. Seventeen percent reported calling in sick as a result of an incident. ‘The real impact of toxic workplace culture shouldn’t be underestimated. Often, people presume that problematic behaviour only impacts those experiencing it, however our research shows otherwise,” commented Gemma McCall, CEO of Culture Shift.'”
Read: ‘Toxic work culture’ impacting productivity, say half of legal workers at Legal Cheek