Our People
"We are a people business, it’s easy to say but it’s true. We need the highest calibre people from all backgrounds and sectors of the community and the right environment for them to develop personally and professionally."
Andy Chalmers, HR Director
At Irwin Mitchell, we celebrate the diversity of our people, our clients and the communities in which we operate. We know that our people are our biggest asset and as such, we are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive working environment in which our employees can flourish and our clients can prosper. The Our People strand is all about making this happen.
Overall, our aims are to:
- Make Irwin Mitchell a ‘great place to work’ for all our people.
- Create an inclusive and supportive culture
- Build commitment to the diversity agenda throughout all levels of the firm
- Provide our people with the opportunity to develop
If you're interested in joining us, visit our recruitment section.
Diversity
Irwin Mitchell is proud to be different.
We have a Partnership Diversity Board that is responsible for overseeing the practical implementation and continued development of the firm’s diversity strategy. The Diversity Board is headed by Stuart Henderson, Regional Managing Partner and Board member. Supporting Stuart is Andy Chalmers, HR Director and a number of other Partners across the firm.
Alongside this group, a number of internal listening groups have been established to focus on sexual orientation, age, gender, disability and race. Each group is led by a senior member of the Partnership and work with external agencies and networks to explore a range of issues and initiatives that will contribute to the inclusiveness of Irwin Mitchell.
Diversity Report
Each year the firm’s Diversity Board produce a Diversity and Inclusion report. This report outlines progress against objectives, future goals and a full break down of our diversity statistics.
Please click here to see the last report.
Wellbeing
It is important that the firm provides a working environment that nurtures employee wellbeing and so there are a number of policies/benefits in place that ensure the wellbeing of all our employees. These include:
- Flexible Working
- Health and safety
- Holidays & Other absence
- Sickness
- Career Break
- Family related absence
- Staggered working
- Bullying/Harassment
- Maternity and Paternity
- Health insurance
- Discounted gym membership
We regularly facilitate ‘stop smoking’ clinics in our offices, supported by the NHS and local City Councils. We also provide our staff with the tools to maintain their financial wellbeing and have hosted the FSA’s ‘Make the most of your money’ sessions at our offices across the country.
Listening To Our People
To ensure that we are on track with our aims of creating a ‘great place to work’ we ensure that we engage with our people, whether this is through listening groups or employee opinion surveys.
Following our latest employee opinion survey, we produced a full results pack that was made available to employees via an e-bulletin and the Irwin Mitchell intranet. To enable teams to review the results from their area/office, a number of briefings took place across the firm with many areas creating action plans to improve the work environment locally.
Overall the survey highlighted that we have a very positive and engaged workforce who are proud of what they do and of working for the firm.
To view the full results pack click here.
Our Future
Irwin Mitchell employs people from all areas of the community with varied academic or professional backgrounds. Unusually for a law firm, candidates applying to our Trainee programme are not screened by their academic qualifications.
Every one of our people plays a key role in developing the firm for the future, regardless of whether they are a lawyer or a member of the support team. For this reason, we provide structured career paths for both legal and non legal employees, giving the latter the opportunity to progress to the level of an Associate and Associate Director (equivalent to Partner level). For employees who are legally qualified non solicitors, we have also introduced the title of Partner as opposed to Associate Director recognising the key role that they play in the firm. This structure emphasises the value we have for all of our people.
We believe that it is good to celebrate success and so in addition to the annual performance review, employees are recognised and rewarded for going the extra mile via the Irwin Mitchell Employee Recognition Scheme.
Recognition
Black Solicitors network
In 2007 the firm took part in the Black Solicitors Network diversity survey and was ranked 19th. In 2008 the firm took part in the Black Solicitors Network diversity survey and was ranked 4th out of 41 firms – a clear indicator of Irwin Mitchell’s commitment to creating an inclusive workplace.
Top Legal Employers
In 2008 the firm took part in the CRF Top Legal Employers survey. The firm was given a Top 10 ranking in the Diversity section with an overall first year ranking of 13th out of 23.
Stonewall
The firm has been ranked in the top 100 businesses in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. In addition, we also hold a Star Performer award which recognises the fantastic work our employee network group, IMEqual, undertakes both internally and externally to raise awareness on key issues. We are a Diversity Champion for Stonewall and the firm is taking part in the Workplace Equality Index.
As part of our commitment to create an inclusive and supportive organisation, Irwin Mitchell also works with:
- Opportunity Now
- Race for Opportunity
- Go Able and Age Concern