The Changing World of Work: How Addleshaw Goddard Harnessed the Potential of Generation Y

Objectives:

• To move from the traditional management style typical within the legal sector and embrace 21st Century styles of leadership.
• To engage with its Generation Y stakeholders and to educate its partners and HR professionals on their views and approaches to work.

Approach taken

• A new brand, The Changing World of Work, was created and communicated across the firm. A series of focus groups were held and an online survey was distributed. 205 responses were received.
• An external benchmarking exercise was completed with the objective of identifying examples of how companies are embracing the changes outside the legal sector.
• A document detailing the research findings and next steps was produced.
• The HR department organised a series of roadshows to present a video of the findings and facilitate an open discussion between all members of staff.
• The findings were shared with the Learning and Development team.
• Investment made in online and bespoke 'at your desk' learning approaches.
• The development team attended the BPP Law School and sat in on lessons to understand how people are learning.
• A Generation Y Mirror Board was established where younger members of staff, with a similar structure to the company's main board, look at similar projects and feed back their findings.
• A project team has also been established to look at the evolving role of secretarial support, building on the findings of how Generation Y wants to work.

Results

• Employees at associate, trainee and future trainee level were included and engaged in the change process.
• Informal networking and communication spread quickly through the organisation, creating buzz and excitement.
• The company is now embracing better use of technology.