Mental health awareness at Birkett Long

As a marketer working at Birkett Long, I am of course promoting the firm on a regular basis. In my personal opinion, the depth of knowledge, talent and character at this firm gives me plenty to shout about. You are always in a position of strength when you are marketing something you believe in. 

In this article however, I would like to take the opportunity ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week in May to write about the way in which our support teams look after us as employees in regard to mental health, and how this translates from company culture through to the services we provide for our clients.

It is true to say that many clients come to a law firm because they are in a position of some turbulence. As a full-service firm, we are able to provide a high calibre of legal knowledge and personable experts to navigate the variety of challenging avenues that life can present. 

For example, clients may be going through a change in their family circumstances or a bereavement, or perhaps looking to the future, maybe purchasing their first home or planning investments with our IFA team.

Commercially, we support all types of businesses from SMEs to international organisations through times of major change, such as mergers and acquisitions, employment disputes, insolvency and purchases of commercial property. All these - whether in times of success or otherwise - can lead to a significant amount of stress, which our legal professionals can help alleviate through their experience and knowledge. Knowing that your business is getting the best possible advice and having someone on hand to explain, liaise and fight your corner, can be an enormous reassurance.

But it is widely recognised that the legal industry and those that work in it are subject to consistently high levels of stress. So how can we ensure our staff are supported in order that they can effectively help clients?

Our support teams

Birkett Long takes part in the Best Companies survey and last year’s results speak volumes about the effort our HR and Training team put into maintaining a strong company culture and why it is important. One of our most impressive awards was being named the Seventh best mid-size law firm to work for in the UK. 

The results followed anonymous staff surveys in which everyone was encouraged to be as open and upfront as possible about our employers. Where there are criticisms, these are reviewed and reflected upon by HR and management. The support programmes that have developed from feedback like this are part of what has engendered a climate for positive improvement in how we work. We have a similar system in place for client feedback with our review solicitors profile.

Staff well-being and service consistency 

It is well understood by those that lead the firm that to perform at our best for clients, it is important that we have the support we need to manage our work and cope with any personal pressures. 

Below are a few of the resources and incentives made available to us to encourage the building of protective factors that help create personal resilience to life pressures:

1. Mental Health First Aiders - We have 11 trained staff members to which any employee can talk - in or out of the office. These people have been selected to represent different ages, sexes and cultural backgrounds so that there is someone every employee feels comfortable with and any conversations are, of course, in complete confidence. Lunchtime drop-in sessions make for easy contact. 
2. EAP Employment Assistance Programme – UNUM - This is an external service that Birkett Long provides for staff. It gives access to talking therapies and a wide range of support for whatever personal circumstances staff may be facing.
3. Flexible working - Reflecting on lessons learned during the pandemic, our HR and IT teams have worked hard to upgrade equipment to provide the flexibility staff may need at certain points of life, such as coping with school runs and child care, or unexpected challenges like illness. 
4. Employee Appreciation Week - For most organisations, employee appreciation lasted only a day, but Birkett Long decided to make it into a week of treats to get us talking, socialising and sharing. We had lunch with colleagues, a surprise pop-up sweet shop and personal messages of thanks that contained coffee vouchers!
5. Volunteer Days - Every Birkett Long colleague has the option to take one day out each year to volunteer for a cause that is meaningful to them personally. This is not taken out of employees’ holiday allowance. As a firm, we sponsor various organisations in the localities of our offices and encourage all staff members to take up this opportunity.
6. Staff social events - These happen on a regular basis and give us time away from work pressures. We might have hot cross buns at Easter or mince pies at Christmas, team parties and firm-wide summer parties, as well as events where parents can bring their children. This gives us some great opportunities to share interests and socialise.
7. Access to training - Staff who want to enhance their training can speak to our Learning Development Manager who will work with the employee’s line manager to provide a framework whereby they can achieve their goals.

The cumulative effect of a managed approach to mental well-being

Subverting the stigma that sadly still surrounds mental health issues, while steadily and subtly building on individual protective factors gets positive results. As you can see from the above, this is a managed effort across many areas of the firm that provides staff with the opportunity to give back to the community, socialise with colleagues, share personal interests, manage life stressors around their workloads but also, where necessary, allows them access to a mental health first aider. 

This proactive yet subtle approach to mental health is time and money well spent - both for our staff and for our clients. Prevention is widely considered the best solution to mental health concerns and on-hand help can be the safety net people need to feel supported and to continue delivering consistent service.

BLHR - Birkett Long Human Resources

Our HR team do a marvellous job of making Birkett Long a wonderful place to work. Naturally, this is also recognised by the employment and BLHR team led by Julie Temple. 

This is what she had to say about the importance of taking a proactive approach to mental well-being in your business:

“We have trained mental health first aiders to enable us to support colleagues as well as work with clients. We regularly provide advice and support to commercial and individual clients in relation to mental health matters and, for more than four years, we have been providing training to commercial clients specifically targeted at managers. Our training aims to provide managers with tools to recognise signs that could indicate potential changes in their employees’ mental health and, importantly, give them the confidence to start to have conversations to support those individuals to the mutual benefit of the individual, the team and the business.” - Julie Temple

Julie and her team are well versed in problem prevention and can provide support to help your business build a strong culture of communication that can mitigate the number of employment tribunals and complaints - as well as other problems you would rather prevent than endure. You can find out more here.

My personal experience as an employee

I joined the Birkett Long marketing team eight months ago. I have had a varied work history. I became a hairdresser's assistant at 15, I have managed bars and restaurants, worked in retail, and done night shifts during the pandemic. I was even a receptionist at a Jiu-Jitsu gym for a short time! But mostly I worked as a freelancer in the television industry.

With such variety in between my freelance contracts, I have seen lots of working environments and sadly witnessed some awful treatment of staff. I have also seen environments I would describe only as “alright I suppose”. In contrast to those experiences, the level of support available to me here at Birkett Long is exemplary and motivates me to go above and beyond for the firm.

Taking a holistic view of how you deliver legal services is one of many qualities that set us apart and why our people and clients stay with us. At present the firm is expanding in multiple areas and looking for legal professionals across many disciplines, along with support staff.  And until the end of May, we have training contracts available for graduates.

You can apply to work with us via our careers opportunities page. If you are looking for your first training contract as a solicitor you have until 31 May 2023 and should apply here.

Harrison Mayes