The Great Resignation: Obstacle or Opportunity?

Reposted with permission from AALL Spectrum, Volume 26, Number 5 (May/June 2022), pgs 20-22.

By John DiGilio, Firmwide Director of Library Services, Sidley Austin LLP and Courtney Toiaivao, Director of Research Services, Holland & Knight LLP

What the Great Resignation can teach us about desirable workplace culture and happiness.

Much has been made of the Great Resignation, the buzzy labor market phenomenon that has seen millions of Americans leave their jobs since spring 2021. The question on so many minds right now is simple: Why? Why are people suddenly hitting the bricks in such large numbers? While it is easy to blame the ongoing pandemic, the answers—and they are multiple—go much deeper and are far more complex. Take for instance the fact that U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that over two-thirds of people who left their jobs in 2021 did so voluntarily. Roughly 69 million Americans quit their jobs since 2021, which means that 47.8 million made up their own minds that it was time to go. (View the data at bit.ly/MJ22laborstats.) The numbers have staggered employers as they try to come up with ways to retain the talent they have, as well as replace the workers who have left. At the same time, a new world of considerations and opportunities has opened for those contemplating making a change.

What Is Causing the Great Resignation?

In many ways, the timing of the Great Resignation is a direct by-product of the pandemic. Parents (often women) left jobs to manage childcare needs; employees left the labor market due to COVID concerns; older employees retired early thanks to extra savings from being in quarantine or perhaps thanks to skyrocketing housing prices that enabled some to sell at profit; and across industries, countless employees left the workforce from a deep sense of burnout and dissatisfaction. This last reason is most distressing to employers and may embolden those pondering a dash for the door.

After anxious, stressful pandemic years, often with increased hours and blurred start and end times, employees saw the boundaries of home and work blend together. Beyond trying to keep children, partners, and pets from popping into Zoom windows, employees routinely found themselves working past the hours where they would have left for home. Time that was once dedicated to the commute was now being spent working. In short, productivity got a boost, but happiness did not. In a time of great work turmoil and with many employees working remotely for the first time, Americans found themselves questioning what they truly wanted from their lives and their work.

Innovation Is Changing the Role of Law Librarians—And They’re Ready for It

Reposted with permission from AALL Spectrum, Volume 26, Number 5 (May/June 2022), pgs 14-16.

By G. Patrick Flanagan, Legal Research Manager, BakerHostetler; Jill L. Kilgore, Research Librarian, Littler Mendelson, P.C. and Jennifer Mendez, Director of Knowledge Management Innovation, Fisher & Phillips LLP

As AI and other innovative technologies continue to disrupt the practice of law, law librarians will continue to be at the forefront of adoption, training, and increasing productivity.

Law librarianship has evolved over the last several decades. Gone are the days when law librarians were thought of as simply the gatekeepers of stacks of books—so long Federal Reporter! Law librarians have been embracing and driving innovation since at least the introduction of microfiche, which may not seem like a disruptive innovation today, but its history proves otherwise. It’s no surprise then that the role of the law librarian has continued to evolve just as the technology used in law libraries has evolved. As evidenced by details in the 2021 AALL State of the Profession report, the role of law librarians now encompasses a wide range of responsibilities and impacts various groups within the organization—“84.8 percent of firm/corporate teams report that they are involved in partnerships and endeavors outside their department that utilize their research skills, technical knowledge, leadership, and adaptability.” While the report highlights law librarians’ collaborations and contributions to marketing, business development, management, litigation, professional development, and information technology, law librarians in our firms have led or participated in opportunities beyond those listed in the report and we think that trend is here to stay. (Learn more about the 2021 AALL State of the Profession report at bit.ly/AALLSOTP.)

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)

Application Programming Interfaces, or APIs, have become all the rage recently. It seems every legal research vendor is either selling or creating an API. Because, at its core, an API is simply about giving the user access to the underlying data without an interface, law librarians have become instrumental in evaluating and procuring APIs.

Because law librarians are content specialists, they have a thorough understanding of all the data available via research platforms. They understand the coverage, reliability, and currency of the data offered by the myriad of research platforms and can make recommendations based on the question or use case. Whether you are looking to enhance litigation matter profiles automatically or normalize a list of judges or companies from within your firm’s systems, a law librarian will be able to make a recommendation based on their knowledge of the data and the tool.

As Jean P. O’Grady put it in her March 2022 Dewey B Strategic blog, “For years law librarians and knowledge managers have been begging legal publishers to free their data from their proprietary interfaces.” (View the post at bit.ly/MJ22DeweyB.) Now that vendors have set the data free, there is no group better suited to work with technologists and attorneys to leverage that data than law librarians.

This question was posted to the PLLIP MyCommunities page on January 26, 2022.

Remote!

• Remote forever. The flexibility paired with increased productivity makes up for loss of in-person comradery and mentoring. While admittedly I’m a bit Zoom-weary, especially by Friday. I did visit the office a week ago, and the fluorescent lighting was so enervating and hurtful to my eyes…no way I will go back unless by command.

• Remote is right for me because I am allistic and ADHD and I have sensory processing challenges that create an energy drain when I have to work in an office. I am much more efficient and effective if I don’t have to expend energy unnecessarily on dealing with crowds, public transportation, traffic or driving, just to get to the beginning of my work day. Particularly when nothing I do requires me to be there in person, as evidenced by the fact that I’ve been working from home for the last 2 years without incident, it seems particularly insensitive to waste two hours of my day on moving from one location where I could do all of my work to another location where I can also do work but under much worse circumstances. For those wondering why it takes a two hour round trip to get to work, note that I would need a wealthy partner (or for Joe Biden to forgive all of my student loans) if I wanted to live on a librarians salary, in a one-bedroom apartment, closer than 30-60 minutes from the office. I am also excellent at creating and maintaining deep connections with people who I interact with online. This is also generally true of many other non-neurotypicals who, like me have difficulty processing verbal communication. It’s not impossible, it’s just a huge drain of my energy that could be better used for something else. A well written email is always going to be easier for me to understand than someone talking their words at me into the air. For me, working from home is a dream come true because now I can manage my energy levels better and avoid autistic burnout which takes a long time to recover from and demands complete rest in a room with no other people, no noise, and no light. In short, I take fewer sick days and I feel more positive towards my employer when I am allowed to work from home.

• My preference is to stay remote.  I have a long commute and mostly take public transportation.  During the pandemic transportation service had been reduced, and currently it remains reduced for lack of drivers. If I go into the office, my time is  limited because of the reduced bus schedule, or I need to drive (which I prefer not to be on the roads with crazed, high speed, reckless drivers). Our team is very busy.  Being at home I have plenty of work.  I also have the flexibility to stay online and work late if I need to. Though being in the office is nice seeing people, I also find I get less research work completed when I go into the office.

PLLIP Picks: Diversity Summit Edition!

Registration information for the upcoming Diversity Summit is available at https://pllsummit.wordpress.com/2022/01/24/2022-diversity-summit-keynote-announcement-registration-is-now-open/.

PLLIP Picks: Books to Keep You Flipping Pages