Mallesons Exec Kate ‘Busta’ Rimer Tells Staff Not to Look Overseas

Hypothetical scenario:

dont you be goin overseas!

Imagine you’re the number 1 person at your firm in relation to staffing levels. Imagine further that at the very end of the GFC, your firm decided to implement a massive redundancy scheme leaving those employees still at the firm concerned that the cuts were too deep, too late, and that there are not enough members of staff to handle the apparently steady work stream. Imagine also that some of those employees remaining are disgruntled with their remuneration, making comments to Firm Spy like:

MSJ’s remuneration strategy is to pay below market (ie 80-90%). Lovely strategy given that the partners are the most well paid in Australia! If only they put that in their recruitment promotional material!

Imagine finally that there is a major international economic up-tick and employees finally feel the power shifting back into their hands and away from frugal, sack-ready partners.

If this were you, would you Busta Rhyme to encourage staff to stay?

Yesterday, Lawyers Weekly reported that Mallesons executive director of people & development, Kate Rimer, busted the following rhyme made the following comments:

Kate Rimer… was cautious about the recruitment market’s likely rate of recovery, particularly given prevailing conditions in former recruitment hot spots overseas. “I think overall we will see a gradual pick-up in recruitment activity, but nothing significant until at least the middle of next year,” she said. “Historically we have lagged much of the economy going into and coming out of downturns. We are seeing a similar pattern with the GFC, where law firms are lagging many of the economic indicators by six-plus months.

“As the economy picks up there is likely to be some lift in recruitment activity, but markets such as London – which have historically been the destination for many lawyers – are not likely to provide many opportunities for at least the next 12 months, given the severity of the GFC in the UK.”

Oh no, not another person Mallesons who can see the future! In the same article, an actual expert on recruitment flows made the following, starkly contrasting comments:

Taylor Root consultant Matt Harris presented a much more opportunistic outlook, suggesting that the market was already feeling the first winds of a “recruitment storm”. “About six weeks ago things started to dramatically develop and increase and improve. A number of firms – in fact quite a large number of firms – that had made it very clear that they had put recruitment on ice returned to the market, and in some cases have returned to the market aggressively,” he said. “I think we’ve already started entering a recruitment storm. I think everyone was expecting it to take place over the next six to 12 months, but I think it’s happening already.”

Harris said practice areas which had seen the most dramatic improvement include corporate, private equity and banking and finance – particularly among the larger mid-tier firms – which he said indicated a very strong confidence in economic recovery. “As soon as one section of firms start [recruiting in those areas] then that’s a very clear indication that the market has improved dramatically and it’s going to be like a snowball.”

So who do you believe? An actual expert in recruitment with no reason to fabricate? Or Busta, a Mallesons exec frantically presiding over an overworked, underpaid workforce that is starting to look to emigrate?

No reason to fabricate

Employees lookin’ to emigrate

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