Transmigration of Soles: Staffing Happiness Derives from the Right Incentives

June 24, 2026 - Law Practice Management

Younger employees have a wandering eye. Ain’t nobody on the gold watch program anymore. That means that if your employees are not happy with their existing compensation package, they’ll find greener pastures without blinking an eye.

Plus, younger employees prefer transparency; they want to know what’s going on, including how they’ll make their money. Nobody’s taking you at your word anymore. So you really need defined benefits packages that you’re able to effectively delineate in a compelling way.

While I’m generalizing, let me just say that most (older) employers are not offering competitive benefits packages that are well-defined. So if you as a business owner can do that, do that! That right there is a competitive advantage.

So what does a compelling compensation package look like for modern law firm employees? It’s more about what you’re leaving out. And the thing that most law firm business owners don’t include are incentives, which allow for upside. Meaning: you get your salary, but if you hit certain metrics, you can get more – entirely dependent on how much effort you’d like to put in, model employee.

Now, that’s completely doable for law firm owners, but most of those folks are hamstrung by a lack of focus on data. To deploy incentives that introduce upside to your employees, you need to be able to track performance, which means: (1) acquiring data, (2) establishing performance baselines, (3) creating KPIs; and, (4) generating incentives that allow your employees to make money beyond their salary. That also further benefits your business.

So, if you’re not serious about deploying data management strategies in your law firm, you become very exposed to losing good employees because you can’t give them the upside that another law firm might.

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If you’re ready to talk numbers, reach out to us today!

The Wyoming State Bar offers free law practice management consulting services through Red Cave Law Firm Consulting.

To request a consult, visit the Wyoming State Bar’s law practice management page, and start running your law firm like a business.