A survey conducted by Meritas Australia and New Zealand has revealed most employees at small- and medium-sized law ﬁrms feel their mental health and well being is important to their ﬁrm, and many believe there is an open-door policy which enables them to seek help.

Sue-Ella Prodonovich conducted the survey of 200 employees at Meritas member ﬁrms, from partners through to non-legal professionals in April - May 2019.

The results provides a snapshot of wellbeing within small- and medium-sized law ﬁrms – the largest category of employers in the Australian and New Zealand legal sector.

Read the full article published by the Law Society Journal (LSJ).

Key survey statistics at a glance:

63 per cent of respondents said they had experienced depression, or they knew someone close to them in the workplace who had
85 per cent of respondents said they had experienced anxiety, or they knew someone close to them in the workplace who had
38 per cent of respondents said that if they were to experience feelings of depression or anxiety, they’d prefer to manage these feelings themselves
26 per cent said they were worried about asking for help or what others might think of them
21 per cent said nothing would prevent them from accessing help
Most respondents said if their ﬁrm offered more dialogue, resources, training, and/or initiatives around well-being they would be likely to use them
83 per cent of respondents said well being was an important issue at their ﬁrm
45 per cent said they felt there was an open-door policy at work or they could talk to someone at their workplace about personal and professional issues which affected their performance
52 per cent of respondents said they worked on average between 35 hours to 45 hours per week
21 per cent said they worked between 45 hours to 55 hours
94 per cent of respondents said they found the demands of their work generally manageable