Irwin Mitchell came rock bottom of the RollOnFriday UK Firm of the Year 2013 survey. The firm managed a paltry 39% overall score and so will be going home with the infamous Golden Turd.

So, where did it all go wrong for the personal injury specialists? In the words of one lawyer: "Pay, pay and pay...um what else?....Pay". The firm scored a barrel-scraping 20% in this category and was blasted by its lawyers for salaries which are "completely uncompetitive, with de minimus benefits". According to one mid-level lawyer "this year, they have combined an exceptionally poor pay review...with major increases in billing targets". The penny-pinching seems especially galling as, apparently, the firm is exceeding its targets and as a result "the morale is at rock bottom", several respondents claimed.
 

One gong which won't make the Irwin Mitchell mantlepiece

 
Irwin Mitchell also scored poorly for promotion prospects. Lawyers claim they are "micromanaged" and "told to work harder without any prospects of career development". One respondent reported that when applying for an internal promotion: "HR said: your performance in your current role is irrelevant, it's how you perform in front of us that matters". According to another, "unless the partner you are working for really likes you" lawyers at 6PQE+ should "get the hell out". And one lawyer claimed that despite a PR push on diversity "most of the partners are white and male, even in departments which have a high percentage of female fee-earners".

Management was criticised too for a lack of openness with staff. Scoring just 45% in this category, IM employees lambasted the firm for an "utter lack of communication" while one respondent moaned, "I usually read about updates at the firm on trade websites". One particularly disheartened staff member claimed plaintively, "I would rather work in McDonalds".

But it's not all terrible. Irwin Mitchell's highest mark (54%) came for work-life balance, with the firm praised for "really good hours" and for having "no presenteeism culture". And staff also mentioned the "friendly, normal people" - and "Dyson hand-driers in the toilets." Although even that wasn't enough to justify a high score for its loos; the firm managed just 48%.

A spokesman for the firm said: "We’re surprised at this. Our own recently completed, independently run employee satisfaction survey, which saw almost four out of five of our people respond, showed the vast majority are proud to be working for Irwin Mitchell and want to be working for us this time next year".


 
DAC Beachcroft joins Irwin Mitchell at the arse-end of proceedings, with a score of just 43% overall. Staff complained of salaries which "are going down instead of up", "mass lay-offs on the sly", "devastated morale" and "rubbish pay" despite "targets which increase year on year".

And third from bottom is perennial Firm of the Year under-achiever Field Fisher Waterhouse which was criticised by staff for "poisonous partners", "a sense that management are at each other's throats", a "lack of openness" and "shocking salaries". Otherwise, fine.