Why building a culture of appreciation starts with a good pension plan
No matter how much blood, sweat, and tears you’ve put into your practice, at the end of the day your team’s collective efforts play the biggest part in your overall success. At no time was this felt more acutely than over the last couple of years as tales of the so-called Great Resignation swept the legal community. According to the 2022 Report on the State of the Legal Market, “Attorney turnover [rose] to record levels for firms, edging dangerously close to losing almost one-quarter of their associates in 2021.’”1
But as a lawyer, innovative and research-based problem solving is where you hit your stride. Enter the so-called “Great Recognition.” Ed Yeun, Vice President, Strategy and HR Outsourcing at ADP Canada, describes this idea as the effort today’s business leaders are taking to build a culture of appreciation in the workplace, both for new hires and more established team members.2
Understanding what they want, what they really really want*
How can you show your employees why your firm is one where they’ll want to stay for the long term? While traditionally we might think of incentives purely along the lines of salary increases, taking a closer look at what’s truly important to Canadian workers reveals a different picture. For example, did you know that anxiety about retirement income is one of the top sources of stress for Canadians?2 With that in mind, it’s unsurprising that more than 70% of Canadian workers would forego a pay raise in favor of a workplace pension, and 79% say they’d change jobs for a better pension plan.3
Too bad that, as a lawyer, spending your free time comparing contribution rates might not feel like the best use of your time. Luckily, CAAT’s DBplus is one of Canada’s fastest-growing, most sustainable, and highest-performing pension plans. As a defined benefit plan, DBplus provides your employees with a guaranteed pension income that isn’t subject to market volatility. You and your employee both make fixed contributions, which means your rates will never change over time. It’s also easy to implement in your workplace, with CAAT’s team of experts there to support you at every step of the transition.
Sources: 1. Thomson Reuters, “2022 report on the state of the legal market: despite a string year, numerous & growing challenges confront law firms,” January 2022. 2. CAAT Pension Plan, “A better pension matters: the attraction and retention strategy every employer should be thinking about.” 3. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and Abacus Data, “2021 Canadian Retirement Survey,” May 2021.
*A Spice Girls reference in a piece about pensions? Please note that this article was written during a heatwave.
