If you hadn’t heard, Cooley LLP, who grossed $1,986,777,000.00 in 2021, was forced to lay off 150 employees, made up of attorneys, paralegals and other professionals. Unfortunately, they did not have available resources to efficiently train and develop these employees to meet their client demand.
One of the most painful experiences that a law firm owner can face is having to hire and then train a new employee or contractor. The time and resources can freeze you up with indecision and reluctance to make any sort of new hire! But it is necessary if you ever plan to grow.
While you can’t ever take a totally hands off approach for preparing your new hire for their role in your firm, you can certainly make the the process a whole heck of a lot easier.
That’s where having a clearly defined process comes into play.
Designing a written Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) can save you a lot of hassle with training new hires by having individual roles clearly outlined and defined, step by step. While it can be painful to write something like this out, it is absolutely necessary if you want to have strong business continuity and save yourself a lot of headache in the long run.
SOP’s not only save you time on training, but it gives your employees clear instructions on their role, By knowing who they need to go to, what software does what, how to manage clients, maintaining notes and tasks, you will cut down tremendously the questions that they will have for you going about their day to day in your firm.
The best part of an SOP is its continuity. When that person you hire decides to leave, and this will happen, you will already have their job clearly outlined, making you ready to go out and be confident to hire someone new, quickly.