A recent survey has found that the legal sector boasts the hardest working professionals of any industry after a study was carried out among lawyers and other professionals who commented on working hours, recruitment and salary.
The Robert Walters Career Lifestyle Survey found that not only are lawyers considered among the hardest working professionals, working on average 45.9 hours a week, but they are also among the most loyal workers, with only 32 per cent of those questioned stating that they would look for a new job within three years of recruitment.
The survey questioned 755 professionals over a range of sectors, including accounting & finance, compliance, operations, IT, HR, risk, marketing, projects, procurement & supply chain, sales, secretarial & support, tax, treasury and legal, which included private practice and in-house legal jobs in London and Britain.
Of those questioned, half said that a lack of career progression was the biggest motivator behind looking for a new job, with 28 per cent stating that a difficult boss would make them consider searching for new employment.
Half of lawyers work harder than any other group
The survey found that in addition to the impressive mean average working hours, 42 per cent of lawyers questioned reported working the longest hours of any group in the survey. Despite this, the value of the work-life balance over that of pay and benefits was described by 94 per cent of the professionals as ‘very important’, with 57 per cent of legal professionals considering the ‘interestingness’ of their day-to-day work ‘very important’ to their job satisfaction.
What these figures go to show is that legal professionals, perhaps above other disciplines, consider aspects recruitment very carefully with many still putting a high emphasis on work ethic and loyalty as a means to succeed in their profession.