PSF Flash Survey – January 2021
| Last May, we collaborated with the US firm Leadership for Lawyers to conduct a survey of professional service firms on how the pandemic is affecting professional development activities. In January 2021, we followed up with a second flash survey to see how firms are adapting and planning for the new year. You can download the complimentary, 17-page report here: Download Flash Survey The survey covers a wide range of topics on how professional development leaders are adapting to a remote working environment, financial pressures, changing expectations, higher stress, longer hours and emerging mental health issues in the firm. Some notable results: Despite fears of lower professional development budgets for this year, 33% of firms saw a budget increase for 2021. Most firms won’t resume live, in-person training until Q3 (51%) or Q4 (19%). 21% said, “we don’t know how or if we will resume live training”. Professional development leaders remain confident in their firm’s leaders to make the right decisions to manage through the crisis. 88% were either “extremely confident” or “very confident” in their leaders. More than a third of firms will expand external coaching in 2021 to support partners and associates. L&D leaders see virtual classrooms, online learning and hybrid (a combination of both online and live) learning as the future of education in professional service firms. While many report “zoom fatigue”, L&D leaders are satisfied with online video tools such as Zoom or MS Teams, scoring a 7.2 on a one to ten scale. 60% of L&D leaders say they are working longer hours than pre-pandemic, but WFH has cut their commute time significantly. Job satisfaction is across the board: 35% have more job satisfaction, 28% have lower job satisfaction and 37% report the same level of job satisfaction compared to pre-pandemic times. L&D leaders are planning to increase both substantive (technical) and people skill learning in 2021, with an emphasis on topics of leadership, communication skills, diversity and equality, resiliency, business development, and leading remote teams. |