It seems like every news source and professional journal for attorneys is talking about the toll that lawyer burnout is having on firms across the nation. Especially at smaller firms where the workload is more concentrated, burnout can have a dramatic effect on employee turnover, client success rates, and more. Law firm burnout is something to take seriously because it’s about more than just how people in your firm are feeling – it’s also about your bottom line!
Today, we’re going to share some key statistics about lawyer burnout and some ways that delegating your workload, including your bookkeeping, can help improve burnout overall.
First, let's talk about the lawyer burnout rate.
In 2021, Bloomberg Law’s Attorney Workload and Hours Survey reported that attorneys experienced burnout about half the time and that attorney wellbeing was declining. Because burnout is stress that is specifically related to the workplace, this is a huge cause for concern for small law firm owners, who face the high cost of turnover if employees are left feeling exhausted and cynical about their roles in the firm.
- 83% reported disrupted sleep pattern.
- 47% reported personal relationship issues.
- 43% reported depression
- 79% identified the challenges that they faced as an inability to disconnect from work.
- 78% reported a heavier workload or professional responsibilities
- 61% reported trouble focusing on work tasks
Burnout can have an extremely negative impact on attorneys, especially when they are working at small firms that rely on their ability to deliver and to be consistent. Burnout affects attorneys by making them feel more withdrawn from their work, diminishing productivity, and even resulting in physical health issues at times.
To assume that burnout only impacts the person experiencing it would be a huge mistake for law firm owners and partners who want to produce the best results for their clients and generate the most profit. While a lot of firm owners believe that the harder their attorneys work, the more money they will make, this isn’t always the case. Only by protecting your team members’ well being can you truly ensure that your law firm will reach its full potential. When attorneys face burnout and check out, they leave attorneys who aren’t experiencing as much burnout to pick up the slack, leading to even more of your team being affected by this phenomenon.
Worse, burnout could lead to high employee turnover, which – for advanced positions especially – can come at an extremely high cost for law firms. The SHRM Foundation estimates that the replacement cost of employee turnover for a professional is close to three to four times their annual salary, and Attorney at Work guesses that for small firms, this number could be even higher. That means that a $75,000-per-year attorney could cost up to $230K or more to replace.
Luckily, there are some things you can do to help! For example, optimizing your accounting and billing system to reduce fatigue and streamline your attorney’s workload. Optimizing your accounting system and integrating it with your practice management software not only ensures that your team is working a reasonable number of billable hours per week, it also takes accounting related tasks off their plate by delegating to a professional or automating where possible. Reducing this layer of stress associated with complicated financial tracking and billing can be a huge relief for law firms and their attorneys, making turnover less likely.
