Peer to Peer Magazine

September 2011

The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association

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"When you talk about ROI, show the calculation." managers think there are any poor or marginal performers? Do other mangers respect the goals and performance of your department, and can you get support from a senior manager or senior partner? An Honest Analysis Begin by taking a look at your environment. Don't be blind to the facts as it will only hurt you in the end. • Is your firm/company in good financial condition? • Are other areas adding staff? • Will your direct manager support your request? • Is your need critical? You need to define "critical" and make sure that your definition will pass with other managers. • Have you done everything to fulfill the need, short of hiring? Outline in detail what you have done and what other avenues you have explored prior to concluding that a new hire is the solution. • Do you have a marginal performer that should be replaced rather than adding a new staff member? Go through the roster of your staff and make sure that your perception of each individual's performance and value is correct. The worst thing that can happen is to have another manager or your direct manager question a current staff member's value. • Is there a skill you need to acquire that validates the new hire? 62 www.iltanet.org Peer to Peer • Are you paying overtime to compensate for the lack of staff? If this is the case, work up the numbers and use the elimination of the overtime as a savings that can be transferred to the new hire. Justification and ROI Explicitly state the need that you are hiring to meet, and have statistics ready to support your case. This will take time, but will be worth it in the end. Have your current staff keep statistics. Have discussions with the staff to make sure you know all the steps that are involved, and get their buy-in for the new hire. For example, if you want to add a helpdesk employee, take a look at how many requests go unresolved for more than 24 hours, and how many currently unresolved requests can be met by the special skills of the requested position. Also examine how much overtime the current helpdesk employees are doing. Compute the difference between the overtime that will be eliminated and the cost of the new employee. If the new position is one that addresses a need that is currently outsourced, get the numbers, and compute the cost savings. Compute the all-in cost for this position, figuring in factors like benefits, training, office space, furniture, etc. Think about what makes the firm and department tick. For instance, what is important to senior management? If you need a programmer, don't base your argument on a piece of software or a goal that will not affect the bottom line. Instead, make sure your need will impact the profitability of the company. Can you affect productivity and profitability with this hire? In the helpdesk scenario, can you compute how much productive time of the "fee earners" is lost because of issues that go unresolved? If the new position can save an hour of productive time for a fee earner, that can now be channeled into a fee production hour that's a plus. If you can compute

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