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Stress, turnover ‘unintended’ consequences of digital maturity
Digitally immature law departments may not be as efficient, but there is a “peculiar positive upside”: lower stress levels and low flight risk, new research shows.
Jerome Doraisamy
Axiom has published its Impact of Digital on Australian In-House Legal Teams report, featuring research conducted by InsightDynamo in Q3 of 2024. The report explored whether legal tech is helping or hurting law departments across the country and the impact it is having on productivity, efficiency, effectiveness, budgets, holistic wellbeing, and human resourcing.
The research found that for teams that are digitally mature – simply put, those with greater levels of tech access and usage – there have been positive impacts on productivity, department size, hiring ability, and effectiveness of law firms and flexible legal service providers (ALSPs).
Almost all (94 per cent) of digitally mature law departments reported being “very or extremely productive”, and such in-house teams are also the most efficient, with only 8 per cent of digitally mature departments having more than 20 team members. Moreover, four in five (81 per cent) of such teams consider ALSPs to be as effective as pricier FTEs and law firms.
However, Axiom went on, digital maturity has a negative impact on stress, burnout, and flight risk.
One-third (36 per cent) of digitally mature departments are stressed, in some cases “extremely” so. Three in four (73 per cent) of individuals in these teams are actively searching for a new position, with 18 per cent being open to a new offer.
At the other end of the spectrum, digital immaturity “has a sweeping impact on productivity (it’s low), department size (it’s large), and demand for more staffing resources (it’s high, they lack the right talent, and half said hiring is hard)”, Axiom noted.
Three in five (62 per cent) of immature law departments have low productivity, and the most FTEs, with 75 per cent having 11-20+ FTEs – despite 60 per cent of them saying they are under-resourced.
Such teams, however, have a “peculiar positive upside”: notably lower stress and very low flight risk.
Digitally immature law departments were the only teams to respond to the research that reported no extreme stress, and only 5 per cent of those in such teams are actively looking for new roles. Moreover, 84 per cent of those in these teams have high job satisfaction.
In conversation with Lawyers Weekly, Axiom Australia managing director and country head Jacob Flax said: “The data show that the money legal leaders are investing in legal tech is paying off – both in ways they wanted and ways they didn’t anticipate.”
“They’re getting the automation and high output on lower-risk work they wanted, so their teams can focus more on the strategic, higher-risk work that requires human reasoning, creativity, and talent. The unintended consequence: their small teams still feel overworked, are more stressed out, and most are actively looking for their next job.”
To counter this, Flax continued, “respondents at all maturity levels are complementing legal tech investments with investments in FTEs, outside counsel, and flexible legal talent providers like Axiom”.
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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