Our Operations Director, Monica Desor, recently attended the annual SRA COLP/COFA conference in Birmingham. Having attended the workplace culture breakout session, Monica came away with the following key points.
SRA guidance on Workplace Culture
Wellbeing is a topic front of mind in the legal sector. More recently the SRA are looking closely into firm culture. This isn’t simply a compliance issue, role modelling should be from the top down.
So what helps to promote a more positive workplace culture?
Processes, clear values, encouraging innovation, asking what the team want and setting clear expectations/boundaries is a good start. The SRA amended its Code of Conduct in May 2023 so that cultural issues can be brought within scope of the regulators.
What is Workplace Culture
Even though culture is all around us, even at work, it is likely defined by people subjectively. It is your responsibility as an employer to ensure that the shared values and belief systems are clearly communicated to all employees. There should be no confusion on what your expectations are.
It’s the social and psychological environment that shapes the behaviour of people within a firm. A positive workplace culture can foster collaboration, innovation, and productivity, while a negative culture can lead to low morale, high turnover, and inefficiency.
It’s not just your behaviour in work that matters, it’s also your behaviour out of work that has an impact to, within the workplace.
Why is Workplace Culture important
Employees want to feel connected to their colleagues and to the company’s mission and core values. This will result in positive employee engagement. By creating a positive culture and reputation, you can attract top talent. Having an open door and no blame culture also cultivates both trust and shows “we are all human.” Mistakes will be made but you should feel safe to be able to let your manager know.
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