No retain, no gain: why employee retention is important to your business’ success

They say good help is hard to find, but what if you’re looking in the wrong place? Businesses can be too focused on attracting new employees to the detriment of nurturing their existing talent.

Considering it can cost between six to nine months' salary to find, onboard and train a new employee – should businesses start looking closer to home?

For us, this is a given. As a leading law firm for business, our people are its product. Corporate partners Philip Clare, Matthew Walsh and Stephanie Brown, who all started as trainees, discuss how their experiences here have shaped their careers.

Philip, who qualified at Muckle in 2005 before making partner in 2013, has three main reasons for staying: “It’s a combination of a great team, great clients and great career development opportunities. There is a real focus to work with individuals to support progression in a way that suits them, whether that is through training, opportunities to do work that excites them, or simply being trusted to work independently.”

Matthew agrees, crediting the work and trust as key factors: “Part of the appeal was doing good quality work in the corporate team and being given as much responsibility as I was ready for. Project work is hard and can be all-consuming, but it is so rewarding to be part of the team that pushes the deal over the line.”

Stephanie, the newest corporate partner (promoted this year after qualifying in 2017), says: “I had an idea of what I wanted to achieve, and the firm supported me with that. Everyone at Muckle is looked at as being on their own path; we try and personalise everyone’s career journey based on their skills alongside business needs.”

Engaged people = engaged clients

Staff retention also impacts your clients. Having the same people who know your clients’ businesses inside out creates consistency and familiarity, which helps create that ’trusted adviser’ role that so many service businesses strive for.

“So much of what we do is about building relationships and understanding multiple perspectives, which includes project advisers (such as corporate finance or tax advisers) as well as clients”, says Matthew. 

Stephanie adds: “Probably my favourite thing about my job is feeling like I’ve really made a difference in supporting clients through a transaction; building relationships and trust is really important for that. There can be a lot of emotions involved, particularly if it’s a family business.”  

Philip summarises: “We’ve built up great relationships with our long-term clients. Seeing both new and long-term clients through their growth journey is very rewarding, and part of how we can achieve these great results is through having a close team relationship.” 

Moving on up

Philip thinks that creating and nurturing opportunities is key to people retention: “We’re a massive believer in internal mobility; if you are good at what you do, you will progress here. Seven of our current partners started their careers here as trainees, and dozens more associates and solicitors have done the same.” 

Stephanie agrees: “There’s a high level of trust at the management level, and they genuinely want to develop people. You know that you’re never going to be held back and that you’ll be allowed to develop into a role over time.”

Matthew says: “As a Muckle trainee, I was supported every step of the way to becoming partner. I was given responsibility from the start and really trusted. We recognise that well-trained, engaged and trusted people will grow into much better lawyers. For me, organisations must provide a pathway for progression as well as help their people see that their contributions are being valued.” 

Philip continues: “I have been greatly helped over my career and I am now in that position where I can return the favour and help develop the next generation of legal talent.”

As the lead of our graduate recruitment team, Stephanie has first-hand experience of this: “I really enjoy training the junior lawyers; I came through that process not so long ago and can remember what it was like.”

More than just a job

Your organisation’s culture is also key to people retention. Having worked at the firm for over 20 years, Philip has seen a lot of cultural change: “We’ve worked hard over the years to create the values and culture that we have now, and that also takes a long time to become embedded.”

Matthew says, “We’ve prioritised a culture that supports our communities, most recently with the push for B Corp accreditation. It’s so important we hire and retain people who share those same values to ensure the business keeps going in the right direction.”

Stephanie concludes: "The feedback we hear is that when people join Muckle, they feel like the culture is actually there. However, nobody is complacent about culture, and there is always work to be done to improve!”

As well as our trainee programme, we're one of the founding members of the North East Apprenticeship Scheme (NESA).

NESA is a six-year scheme during which apprentices get work experience and a law degree before qualifying as a solicitor – without university debt. Ben Evans, our first solicitor apprentice to qualify, did so in 2023, coincidentally into the corporate team – carrying on the team’s tradition of retaining talent.

To find out more about our culture, visit our careers page.