Griffin Legal

Griffin Legal is a nationally operating commercial law firm with offices in Canberra and Melbourne. They provide practical, reliable and quality legal services, and cultivate a supportive team culture.

For a bustling law firm, managing stress is particularly important for ensuring staff can maintain a healthy balance.

“We recognise that the legal professional has a reputation for poor mental health for lawyers and law students,” explains Penelope Gibbons, Office Manager at Griffin Legal. “A healthier workplace is important to us because it means we are taking proactive steps to improve healthy practice and good mental health for our
professionals and for our industry.”

It’s this attitude that has helped keep the firm focused on their staff health and wellbeing over the years.

“While we have always had healthy practice policies and procedures in place, the Healthier Work program has helped us to formalise this commitment,” says Penelope. “This has had a positive impact on our culture, as it shows our employees that our annual planning involves this commitment, and that healthy work practices are and will continue to be a priority.”

Undoubtedly, the juggle between working with clients and attending planned activities is never easy. Griffin Legal keep their plan flexible and avoid planning compulsory activities outside of business hours.

“It took some trial and error to develop a plan that suited our lawyers. In the legal profession, there is pressure on lawyers to meet a billable budget and there are pressures for lawyers throughout their day,” explains Penelope. “We believe any effective healthy workplace plan should not demand too many resources or too
much time. It should be easy to implement and ingrained in the culture of the business.”

Griffin Legal’s most successful activities have involved sessions on stress management and stress resilience, as well as incentives for employees, such as FitBits, Sportsmans Warehouse vouchers and reimbursements towards employee fitness costs.

“Our healthy workplace plans have assisted with increasing staff morale, reducing absenteeism, and increasing productively,” says Penelope. “We especially appreciate the positive impact the program has had on our culture and the mindset of our employees.”