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Wellness for in-house lawyers is ‘not quite there yet’
When it comes to management of the health and wellbeing of lawyers in corporate counsel roles, progress has been made but there is still a long way to go, according to the new head of legal at SafetyCulture.
Jerome Doraisamy
Speaking to Lawyers Weekly following her appointment to the Australian workplace solutions technology company, Kate Pullinger said “we are not quite there yet” with in-house wellness.
“Lawyers tend to have perfectionist traits which can sometimes be a positive attribute but in an in-house role, when the expectation is to gallop through work, respond quickly and be across a variety of matters, it can lead to in-house lawyers feeling unprepared, stressed and overwhelmed.”
A well-rested, engaged and energised workforce is ultimately what will ensure productivity and success, she argued.
“That means providing support to employees to eat well, sleep properly (7–9 hours a night) and exercise. It’s about making lawyers feel supported and comfortable and to know that, sometimes, people just have bad days and that's okay too,” she suggested.
“I’d like legal teams and the wider workforce to incorporate a "wellness" goal as part of the yearly review process – wellness and health to in-house lawyers is just as important as the company meeting its commercial and strategic goals. Numerous studies have concluded that the happier the workforce, the more motivated the employees. We should be encouraging companies to view employee wellness as a key pillar of a successful company.”
There are dangers, she added, of legal departments not adequately considering such health matters.
“A failure to cater to the wellbeing of staff leads to burnout, less engaged employees and staff churn. You will often find that when environments are toxic, more mistakes are made and employees are less productive.”
“The biggest danger for the legal industry is losing some fantastic and very capable lawyers to different industries because of the levels of stress they are put under,” she said.
In her new role with SafetyCulture, Ms Pullinger said she has particular objectives she’s looking to achieve when it comes to workplace wellness, to complement what is already in place.
“Luckily, the senior management at SafetyCulture genuinely promote flexibility and work/life balance so we are in a fortunate position. We often have dogs in the office which instantly lifts morale. We have also recently rolled out the wellness app Uprise to all employees – it's a mental health app that specialises in providing preventative support for employees and gives confidential access to mental health specialists.”
“In addition to embracing health and wellness technology, in the future I’d love to have some Sydney wellness gurus visit the SafetyCulture office to share their knowledge. We can all do with some wellness up-skilling.”
And, she’s not forgetting her own holistic wellness either, concluding our interview by saying: “On that note, I’m off to book in a massage and get some vitamin D.”
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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