Fenwick Elliott is the largest specialist construction law firm
in the UK serving international clients in the building,
engineering and energy sectors, including oil, gas and power. As
well as traditional employment law matters relating to terms and
conditions of employment, the firm also faces particular issues
relating to their business as solicitors. These include: the
employment of trainee solicitors on Law Society training contracts;
working time issues due to hours of work required for the delivery
of specialised client service; and most importantly – staff
performance.
Employee performance is key to Fenwick Elliott’s success and
this comes under the remit of partner and LLP Manager Neil
Elliott. Neil is one of the few non-solicitor partners in
a law firm, and he looks after the running of the partnership –
including staff appraisals. He explains how he first came across
Mentor and why “it’s a bit of a no-brainer”.
“Something turned up on my desk and I had an employment law
issue going on at the time. I looked at the flyer and thought it
would be a sensible thing to do. It all seemed to do the trick and
I haven’t looked back since.
“If people have the time to look at what Mentor offers, it’s a
bit of a no-brainer. I find various things extremely useful.
Firstly, the monthly emails which give you a snapshot of what’s
happening in employment law. You also get some case law which is
quite interesting.
“If you look at – dare I say it – the cost of lawyers, it’s
quite expensive and you often pay a couple of hundred pounds an
hour plus. It soon adds up if you make a few enquiries every month.
I think it’s extremely good value for money and the advice line is
worth the premium itself, as is the insurance that you get – £1
million against claims.
“It’s also very good to be in contact with Catherine, our Mentor
consultant. An example of something we’ve managed to do following
one of my regular catch up meetings with Catherine involved our
annual staff appraisal forms. I felt the old ones were a bit too
much like school report cards – employees and reviewers evaluated
performance on a scale of A to F and then compared marks.
“I sat down with Catherine and one of her colleagues and we
devised a much more open-based form that would generate more
discussion at appraisal meetings.
“We’ve now used the forms for a couple of years and, from an
employer’s point of view, I think they’re much improved. Feedback
from employees is that they are far better than the previous forms
and they do tend to encourage more discussion at the appraisal
meetings.”
“It doesn’t matter how big or small your issue is, if you want
to bounce an idea or discuss a problem you’ve got, you can just
pick up the phone to Mentor and within a matter of minutes you’ve
got sound legal advice. Bearing in mind the minefield that
employment law can be – it gives you proper peace of mind.
Senior Employment Law & HR Consultant
Catherine Watmore is happy to have worked with Neil to develop an
appraisal system that he is comfortable with and that’s appropriate
for the business.
“We meet regularly to address any ongoing issues and to ensure
that Mentor is doing all it can to support Fenwick Elliot as a
trusted employment law and HR business partner.
“As well as helping with the appraisal forms, I also provided
Neil with some coaching and mentoring on the necessary skills to be
effective in giving and receiving feedback as part of performance
review. He was keen to develop his abilities in this area.
“We’ve also looked at how the performance review then fits into
the discretionary bonus and reward structure in the firm to ensure
that this provides real motivation for staff and that Neil
understands the legal requirements.
“Neil is always a pleasure to work with and really values the
benefits of good people management. He deals with issues at an
early stage before they become protracted problems. Any concerns,
he just picks up the phone and calls us!”
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