End-of-year bonanzas
Who doesn’t love an end-of-year shindig? Human resources teams don’t, for a start, and we know lawyers have traditionally liked them to the point of sexual misconduct. But to avoid further existential dread, let’s try to keep it light.
For Buddle Findlay, office-wide celebrations will kick off in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, and individual teams may lunch in style. Duncan Cotterill, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Simpson Grierson and Buddle Findlay will hold office-wide celebrations, with details unspecified.
Russell McVeagh has an undisclosed end-of-year celebration planned that will prioritise fun and safety and celebrate the year’s successes, human resources general manager Karen O’Leary said.
Pointing to events such as quiz and movie nights, Friday-themed get-togethers, sporting events and charity fundraisers, Leary said, “[Social events are] a great way to break the ice for new joiners, strengthen relationships across all of our teams, and create a fun and supportive environment for all.”
What’s more, Leary said all of the firm’s events have assigned responsible hosts who ensure the safety of their people. By responsible, I imagine this means “sober” or having the seniority to pull disciplinary rank.
While Dentons will follow suit with firm-wide Christmas functions at each office, there’s also an extra event reserved for kids. The question is, can childless workaholics like myself go as well?
Chairman Hayden Wilson said the children’s Christmas party is alcohol-free (fun-free), where employees share gifts among partners and family members. In contrast, team events are typically held in the afternoon and include a team-building activity – see my views on “forced fun” above – followed by lunch or dinner.
The full-office affair will be held in a privately hired, licensed venue. The bar options will include beer, wine, spirits with mixers and non-alcoholic beverages, notwithstanding shots and cocktails. “We regularly remind employees of our drug and alcohol policy, as well as our responsible host policy,” Wilson said.
As an aside, I am perpetually fascinated by the trend of corporate policies prohibiting hard liquor to curtail inappropriate or harmful behaviour.
Personally, I could drink a whole bottle of vodka and still not sexually assault anyone. Equally, a bottle of wine does nobody any favours, particularly when you’ve got a lifetime’s worth of resentment towards your loud-tuna-sandwich-eating-in-the-office colleagues.
I could go on, but thank Jesus, Mary and Joseph Dentons has found reason by allowing vodka sodas for my like-minded “girlies”.
Christmas pressies
While the concept of a bonus or end-of-year goodie bag may be a thing of folklore for us peasants outside of the law, they’re rife among top-tier firms.
For Buddle Findlay, partner Charlotte von Dadelszen said bonuses are discretionary and subject to individual and overall firm performance. Moreover, all employees receive a Christmas gift (I’m thinking Chrisco Christmas hampers but of the Farro Fresh variety) to thank employees for their contributions.
On top of an end-of-year miscellaneous gift to all staff, Russell McVeagh’s bonus scheme is prescriptive and tailored to roles. The firm’s high-performance framework clearly defines expectations around performance for bonus eligibility.
The same goes for Simpson Grierson, which offers all staff a gift (hopefully not niche-flavoured chutney), “including annual discretionary bonuses and other financial rewards”, people and culture director Jo Stevenson said.
MinterEllisonRuddWatts doesn’t have a formal gift policy per se, but the firm typically offers a “thank you” gift to staff each year for their contributions to the firm’s success.
In recent years, staff gifts have ranged from travel bags and beach towels to bonuses and Prezzy cards. I’d prefer a bonus over a towel, but there’s value in having a well-stocked “recycled gift” drawer for those last-minute regifting emergencies.
Dentons takes the cake in my view, gifting discretionary performance-based bonuses, which can be 3-15% of an employee’s base salary. Yum!
While Christmas wish lists will include “keeping my job” for the rest of us, the opposite is true for lawyers. Although two support roles were disestablished at Russell McVeagh, Bell Gully, Buddle Findlay, Simpson Grierson, and MinterEllisonRuddWatts neither underwent restructures nor made lawyers redundant this year. Dentons’ headcount increased, if you can believe it.
In other words, it’s a great time to be a lawyer.
