Clifford Chance hires from Aon in London

Clifford Chance hires from Aon in London

Charles Alberts will be responsible for the creation of the firm's wellbeing strategy and will provide consultations on mental health and staff welfare issues

As its first global head of wellbeing and employee experience, Clifford Chance has hired Charles Alberts, a consultant with Aon.

She most recently served as the head of Aon's workplace wellness solutions practice for four years. Alberts will be based in CC's London headquarters. He served as a health, risk and wellbeing consultant for Aon's mental health group before that.

In her role as the first woman to lead the company's first global wellbeing strategy, Alberts will be in charge of establishing CC's first global wellbeing strategy. At every stage of the employee-firm interaction, including recruitment, training and promotions, the strategy will cover the various points of contact. This strategy will apply to other staff members of Clifford Chance as well, such as business directors and administrative support staff.

In addition to maximise support at every stage of employment, Clifford Chance says that the goal of the strategy is to ensure a consistent approach to staff welfare throughout all its international offices.

"I have seen first-hand that targeted and proactive approaches to employee wellbeing and employee experience can bear fruit for organizations at all levels over the past five years," says Alberts. In this rapidly evolving world of work, it is more important than ever to protect and enhance employee wellbeing and create positive workplace experiences.

As part of Alberts' appointment, CC's Chief People Officer Grant Elred, as well as its Global Partner for Talent Chinwe Odimba-Chapman, will work closely with Alberts.

According to Elred, Alberts' role was created to address the shifting responsibilities that an employer has to manage, something that has been observed at many law firms, in particular during the recent pandemic.

The key to supporting our people is not just talking to them, it's listening to them too and Charles' skills and expertise will facilitate our efforts in this area, said Boyd.

In numerous studies, it has been found that lawyers have higher rates of mental illness and substance abuse than the general population. This underlines the importance of law firms supporting lawyers' mental wellbeing. LawCare, an organization dedicated to the wellbeing of lawyers, published a study last year indicating that 69 percent of its 1,700 respondents suffered from poor mental health in the year before the study, with low mood, anxiety and depression among the most common symptoms.

Another study conducted by the IBA discovered that a startlingly high percentage (41 percent) of the 3,000 legal professionals who participated did not discuss their mental health with their employers. Less than a third of respondents (32 percent) said they were fearful they would be discriminated against if they spoke up, 24 percent thought their employer did not adequately recognize mental health issues and 17 percent believed they would not be taken seriously.

Law firms in England and Wales can adopt new guidance issued by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) in February, as part of promoting more positive working environments. Even though most respondents reported positive feelings about their work environments, progress still needs to be made with regard to issues such as systematic bullying, discrimination and mental health. Another concern was a firm's emphasis on targets and its 'wholly unreasonable' workload; in addition, the firm ignored abuses of authority by senior staff and considered staff complaints ineffective unless they were withdrawn.

In addition to lowering turnover and recruitment costs, making the firm more attractive to prospective talent and improving customer experience, the review emphasized the importance of prioritizing employee wellness in benefiting the bottom line.

Several law firms are using technology to aid lawyers in managing their wellbeing while on the job during the work week. As part of its mental health initiative last year, Linklaters developed an app in partnership with Better Space that provides accessible and sustainable tools to help British employees manage their mental health. Several British competitors have similar apps, including Slaughter and May, Taylor Wessing and Eversheds Sutherland.