More than a feeling: how a positive workplace culture is good for everyone
At Nexa, we are proud of our culture and think this is one of the things which marks us out as different from other law firms.
You may have noticed we talk about our culture quite a lot in our blogs because we think it really matters to our consultants and has a positive impact on their lives.
Defining workplace culture
The trouble is that when businesses talk about “culture” it risks sounding a bit vague; how do you describe and measure something which is intangible, really just a feeling or atmosphere?
Forbes defines workplace culture as:
“The shared values, belief systems, attitudes and the set of assumptions that people in the workplace share.”
But this is not enough by itself. People want to work in a positive culture. There are so many significant benefits to this. Being in a positive workplace culture reduces stress, raises morale, improves teamwork and collaboration, increases productivity and efficiency and enhances job satisfaction and retention.
Many of our consultants have told us that they had a “good feeling” or a “gut instinct” when talking to people at Nexa before they joined us and felt that this was the right place for them. We also hear people say they felt very “comfortable” or “at home” as soon as they started working here.
More than a feeling
But Nexa’s culture is more than a feeling. It’s one of the reasons that co-founder and COO Eliot Hibbert set up the firm in the first place.
We know that the leadership and management of an organisation have a huge influence on its culture, they must set the tone and model the positive values and behaviours of the business.
Eliot set out from day 1 to build a better culture at Nexa – one that wasn’t too corporate, that was more easy going and open. He wanted to attract a good mix of experts who were also nice people, who fitted into a collaborative ethos.
C is for culture…
We think Eliot has succeed in his ambition! A positive culture continues to drive everything we do at Nexa. Here are a few examples:
Camaraderie: Working from home can lead to feelings of isolation and it can be more difficult to experience the sense of fun and connection you get from being in an office with lots of people. But by collaborating professionally, our consultants build great relationships with their colleagues and there are plenty of opportunities to socialise for those who want to! All our consultants are essentially running their own legal businesses so they can offer advice and assistance to each other when needed.
Community: We have over 120 high-quality lawyers working in many different disciplines and geographic areas, but we work together and support each other. We are diverse, we don’t have a “type” and have never looked for “identikit lawyers”, our consultants are an eclectic bunch, which makes life far more interesting.
Communication: The management of Nexa want all our consultants to succeed in their careers and we work hard to make sure they have everything in place to help them do that. The executive team is very accessible and open to everyone. Our back-office support is highly responsive to consultants’ needs – help is only ever a phone call or email away.
Caring:. More than anything, we want our consultants to be happy in their working lives. We think the flexibility of our model and the freedom this gives people helps to achieve this. We know our consultants feel empowered and in control. We also believe we should care about the community outside of Nexa and positively contribute to wider society. We have adopted an environmental business charter to help us be kinder to the planet and we are investing in the next generation of lawyers through our internship partnership with Queen Mary University of London.
Ready to find out more?
If you are interested in finding out a bit more about life as a consultant solicitor at Nexa then check out our careers pages here or, have a look at our brochure. For a confidential, no obligation chat, contact David Roth.
–Nigel Clark, CEO
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