Finding the balance

Lisa Walsh, director of marketing and business development at Bundledocs, outlines how tech solutions can ease employee workloads.

Legal firms are undergoing a transformation, with traditional methods being substituted by new and emerging technologies. While these changes may seem radical to some, embracing new technology leads to a reduction in the heavy workloads that have affected employees’ work/life balance. A survey conducted by Bloomberg Law found that lawyers have experienced burnout 52% of the time they have been working.

Employees’ expectations have changed over time and, now more than ever, it’s important for firms to adapt their ways of working to facilitate an improved employee experience.

Increasing efficiency

Traditionally, law firms have conducted their work using large physical files housed on site. Employees would be required to painstakingly search through materials to source information wasting hours each working day. As new tools continue to emerge, firms can now implement solutions that transform the way in which employees work.

As part of our offering, the core Bundledocs solution and PDF editor provides employees with the opportunity to work from any location at any time, maximising a team’s ability to create compliant documents for court. Solutions such as ours have enabled a shift from traditional methods, leading to a reduction in their overall workload and the time they spend on time-consuming tasks.

Improving experience

Attitudes to work changed after the pandemic, with 41% of people in a recent study stating that they were attracted to their role due to the work-life balance compared to their salary. To attract and retain talent, firms must support the ongoing development of their employees. A firm that invests in its employees fosters an atmosphere where talent thrives. As a result, employees will feel valued within the workplace.

Adopting tech solutions within a firm can reduce the time employees spend on tasks such as communicating with clients and research, providing them with the opportunity to spend time on self-fulfilling tasks such as further study and gaining experience in different areas. With the flexibility to upskill within the workplace employees will experience an increase in job satisfaction which can lead to higher rates of attraction and retention.

A flexible approach

Increasing connectivity, improving communication and collaboration are some of the benefits of adopting new technologies. With employees having experienced remote work, there is now an expectation that work can be completed through a hybrid approach. With legal tech, employees can still experience a traditional approach to work in a way that supports them and the firm. Teams can operate on cases across time zones as they now can collaborate and communicate on tasks regardless of location.

Similarly, employees can create court documents from their own homes owing to the ability to access case files through case management systems and create court-compliant documents. Firms are no longer restricted when it comes to hiring based on location – a flexible approach that relies on tech opens new opportunities when it comes to talent.

The emergence of legal tech has led to requirements changing to facilitate a digital world. It is important for firms to understand the significant impact that solutions can have on employees in comparison to traditional methods. As we move forward it is important for firms to understand the significance of finding the balance when it comes to their workforce.