Hill Dickinson has placed last in the RollOnFriday Firm of the Year survey and is the 2016 recipient of the Golden Turd.
The Liverpool-headquartered firm earned a score from its staff of just 20%, with fear of redundancy dominating the responses. "People disappear in the middle of the night", said one associate, but "nothing" is communicated to the staff apart from "some meeting where it is stated that we are doing very well indeed". People used to be "very friendly", but following rounds of redundancies, the morale is "currently at an all time low and everyone is wondering who will go next".
Several staff describe the unfortunate contrast of senior management buying "some very expensive cars" a fortnight before announcing more job cuts, with one suggesting, "They live on a different planet".
Others go further, claiming that the "perma-tanned Scouse mafia" in charge place "total emphasis" on turnover and swish premises, with the head office "rumoured to be the most expensive office block in Liverpool". But behind the smart facade, it is a tale of costcutting. "They stopped serving hot meals in the cafe", says one employee, while "only partners can order tea and coffee for clients", and mineral water in the meeting rooms has been "scrapped and it's jugs of tap water only". It is, says one associate, the "epitome of all fur coat and no knickers".
To Hill Dick's credit, however, and in a sign that it is treating staff seriously, the firm has taken the turd on the chin. In a statement to RollOnFriday, it said, "As a result of changes to the marketplace, we had to restructure parts of our business which inevitably created a degree of instability. Whilst it was a difficult time for us, it was essential to ensure that our business reflected the needs of our clients. This work has now been done and today we are a growing business with a solid financial foundation and a clear strategy for the future. We have been working hard to regain the trust and confidence of our people and these efforts will continue throughout 2016”.
In second-last place, PI monster Slater and Gordon narrowly dodged the glinting shit with an abysmal 24%. Its decision to buy "floundering" Quindell for AUS$600 million when "literally anyone in the industry could have told management that was a rip off" won them a slating, along with its tanking share price. "That and buying numerous other large PI firms in a short space of time and making a piss poor effort to integrate them" (as demonstrated here and here and here).
Sullivan & Cromwell took third place from the stinker. While it scored excellently for pay, the US firm has not quite got the balance right. Management was marked 'very poor' by all respondents, landing the leadership with 0%. "There isn't a single aspect of the firm that is properly organised or structured", said an associate.
Things can only get better. Surely. RollOnFriday will publish the full 2016 results next week.
Tip Off ROF
The Liverpool-headquartered firm earned a score from its staff of just 20%, with fear of redundancy dominating the responses. "People disappear in the middle of the night", said one associate, but "nothing" is communicated to the staff apart from "some meeting where it is stated that we are doing very well indeed". People used to be "very friendly", but following rounds of redundancies, the morale is "currently at an all time low and everyone is wondering who will go next".
Several staff describe the unfortunate contrast of senior management buying "some very expensive cars" a fortnight before announcing more job cuts, with one suggesting, "They live on a different planet".
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He'd take his revenge on his supervisor in the RoF survey |
Others go further, claiming that the "perma-tanned Scouse mafia" in charge place "total emphasis" on turnover and swish premises, with the head office "rumoured to be the most expensive office block in Liverpool". But behind the smart facade, it is a tale of costcutting. "They stopped serving hot meals in the cafe", says one employee, while "only partners can order tea and coffee for clients", and mineral water in the meeting rooms has been "scrapped and it's jugs of tap water only". It is, says one associate, the "epitome of all fur coat and no knickers".
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To the victor the spoils, to the loser the coil |
To Hill Dick's credit, however, and in a sign that it is treating staff seriously, the firm has taken the turd on the chin. In a statement to RollOnFriday, it said, "As a result of changes to the marketplace, we had to restructure parts of our business which inevitably created a degree of instability. Whilst it was a difficult time for us, it was essential to ensure that our business reflected the needs of our clients. This work has now been done and today we are a growing business with a solid financial foundation and a clear strategy for the future. We have been working hard to regain the trust and confidence of our people and these efforts will continue throughout 2016”.
In second-last place, PI monster Slater and Gordon narrowly dodged the glinting shit with an abysmal 24%. Its decision to buy "floundering" Quindell for AUS$600 million when "literally anyone in the industry could have told management that was a rip off" won them a slating, along with its tanking share price. "That and buying numerous other large PI firms in a short space of time and making a piss poor effort to integrate them" (as demonstrated here and here and here).
Sullivan & Cromwell took third place from the stinker. While it scored excellently for pay, the US firm has not quite got the balance right. Management was marked 'very poor' by all respondents, landing the leadership with 0%. "There isn't a single aspect of the firm that is properly organised or structured", said an associate.
Things can only get better. Surely. RollOnFriday will publish the full 2016 results next week.
Comments
Twice in four years the 'Golden Turd' has gone to a firm with "Dickinson" in its name (Dickinson Dees 2012 and Hill Dickinson 2016). Coincidence? Yes, probably.
No DX
No first class post (urm aren't we a law firm?)
No meeting rooms
No Parking
No pay rises in 3 years
No bonus even if you met target
No secretaries
No typing
No support staff
Difficult decisions taken....... no just very stupid ones
Stressed employees
1) how many other law firms have you actually worked for? and
2) Did you (and the vast majority at HD) complete the survey? If no then you have no right to criticise those that did - its like not voting in an election and then criticising the politicians. If yes then you probably saved HD from an even worse score!
Using your argument, only the disgruntled employees at all the other firms will have completed the survey, and yet every single one of those other firms still managed to rank higher than HD. In which case and depending upon how the rankings are allocated, there would appear to be more disgruntled people at HD than at other firms.
Or you're implying that only the disgruntled employees at HD completed it, but the other firms must have had a mix of positive and negative participants, unlikely as that may seem.
Or, as seems to be accepted by your spokesperson, HD has simply made a hash of employee engagement over the past few years.
They won't turn it round easily, the same crap directors will eventually move them into a cheaper, pokey office somewhere else in the city and more redundancies will follow. I was there five years and at no point did any of the directors engage in friendly conversation with me, or any of my immediate colleagues, unless they needed someone to blame for something.
They think 'staff engagement' is when one of the partners cops off with one of the HR girls at the Christmas party.
Thoroughly deserved for the backwards management and horrible personalities of the directors and senior partners. Those not in a high up legal role should look elsewhere for a much better job, where management might actually listen to you and take you seriously.
Anon 2235 - agree, hope Managing partner takes note and sorts it out but doubt anyone will come forward without cast iron guarantees from the very top!
Tried to stay out of this but its a decent firm with a lot to offer its clients. No axe to grind here and Hope the firm moves forward for the sake of the workforce, their families and its clients.
I am not in a senior position at the firm, I'm a lowly fee earning minion, and I do think the award is unfair. Yes, some of the cuts have been a little draconian (i.e. the cafe) however we're in the city centre, you don't have to set off on an expedition to buy your lunch. I have had pay rises every year I've worked here, as I've worked hard and hit my target, you know, done my job. I have worked in bigger law firms than HD and can honestly say it's a great place to work. As someone else pointed out, you're only likely to take part in this survey if you were pissed off to start with.
Kinda sums up the HD approach to staff engagement.
now who would implement a live case management system without testing it properly ?
a) a bunch of 5 year-olds
b) hill dickinson
c) hill dickinson
you have agood chance of getting this right