Will Your Employer Try to Do a "Kingsley Napley?"

"Kingsley Napley has pulled off the difficult trick of telling its lawyers they’ve had a terrific year, but sadly there’s no money for bonuses, and now they should catch buses instead of cabs and stop wining and dining clients at fancy restaurants." - RollonFriday, June 23, 2023

It's not an overstatement that UK law firm Kingsley Napley had a "terrific year." Despite a tricky economy, its revenue increased 11%. That outdid the overall legal market by 4%.

But yet Kinsley Napley is imposing austerity on the workforce. And it will probably get away with it. And so might your own employer try that and the odds are the business could get away with it.

The dominant mindset in the workplace is fear. And that leads to risk-aversion. The Great Resgnation has shifted to The Great Stay. There is too much uncertainty, ranging from economic to technological, to change jobs or let go of a solid gig assignment. Capitalism is a brutal system so employers will exploit that compulsion by workers to struggle to just hold on to what they have. Or, assume they have. 

The reality is more like this: It is unlikely that how employees earn their living is all that secure. On Professional Anonymous Networks workers in myriad sectors share being blindsided by a layoff or even an outright firing. Some report that superiors had been informing them that they were doing fine.

Therefore we can anticipate more worker protests, more campaigns to unionize, more leaking to the media and more disengagement. Policy makers with power have to come up with a new kind of social contract between management and labor. 

2023. It’s the year of AI, along with uncertainty, inflation, war and more. Jane Genova provides you with a complimentary check-in for your organization’s communications and your own career. It’s free. Content-creation and coaching provided on a sliding-scale fee basis. (for appointments text 203-468-8570 or janegenova374@gmail.com)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Akin Gump Julia Ghahramani's March 2021 Cocaine+ Death - So?

   It had been way back more than a year ago that first-year associate at law firm Akin Gump Julia Ghahramani died from cocaine laced with fentanyl. Yet that story keeps resurfacing.  This week  RollonFriday  revisits it. And  Reddit Big Law  considers the issue if the energy from cocaine is what's making possible those 2,500 hours billed in law firms.  Is what's keeping this on the radar the hunch that use of the illegal substance cocaine is common among those practicing law? After all, in addition to being an energy-booster, it provides a nice reward for such hard-working lawyers. Also, they have the earnings to afford it. Most of the rest of gunners have to stick with boozing. So, why not?  The reality might be setting in that the death could simply have been an aberration. Think about it this way: Ghahramani had bad luck in her alleged choice of dealers. Others might be able to exert more scrutiny in overseeing the content of the illegal drugs they sold. The message c
Read more

Up-or-Out: McKinsey Raises the Pressure, In Contrast Some Law Firms Ease It through Nonequity Partner Tier

" McKinsey & Co.  warned some US consultants last week they are running out of time to win promotion, raising the 'up or out' pressure on staff as the global consulting industry struggles." - Abovethefold Article in Bloomberg , March 27, 2024 This is yet another sign that once-iconic McKinsey is a professional services firm in trouble. One challenge is overcapacity of manpower. It has also warned about 3,000 consultants about "concerns" regarding their performance.  In addition to the overall slowdown in management consulting, McKinsey faces scrutiny from myriad sources about its client list including assignments with China and Saudi Arabia. There also has been that hatchet-job book "When McKinsey Comes to Town." The most damning aspect of the expose is that former employees dump on it. Posts on the professional anonymous network Fishbowl Consulting aren't optimistic about a turnaround at McKinsey or at other players in that sector. In cont
Read more

Down Memory Lane - There Was Actually a Time in When $70k for New JDs Was Big Money

  Let's cut to the chase. The year was 1987.  On a Monday in October the stock market crashed.  Corporate downsizing, made an art at GE by Jack Welch, was purging the system of middle-aged middle managers. Staples caught the wave of accidental entrepreneurs forced out of corporate careers. It created the new category of office supplies for small business. We the purged agonized at Staples about what color business stationary.  It was the worst of economic times, at least since The Great Depression.  Meanwhile, large law firms were getting a lot of attention because they were paying inexperienced law-school graduates starting salaries of up to $70k.  Cravath got the ball rolling on that. The phenomenon was enough to attract a major article by The Washington Post.   The kicker was this: The money wasn't enough for young lawyers to stay with those jobs which they found long in the hours and short on stimulating assignments. Often they were locked into proofreading documents at the
Read more