In response to my recent column, Money Matters: 2016 Millennial Lawyer Survey Results, a reader asked if survey results varied by firm size. In the prior post, I noted that compensation was the top reason survey respondents left firms and a top contributor to job satisfaction.
The reader was interested in knowing whether perspectives on compensation differed among millennial lawyers at firms of different sizes. A deeper dive into the data revealed the answers to this question and others below.
Earlier this year, I partnered with Above the Law and Ms. JD on a survey of millennial lawyers. The online survey was open to lawyers who were born in 1980 or after. The survey received approximately 600 responses. Although certain questions only applied to specific situations, questions generally received at least 250 responses.
Top contributors to job satisfaction
When Millennial lawyers were asked what factors (up to three) contributed most to their job satisfaction, the top three answers overall were:
| The people I work with: | 66% |
| The work I do: | 63% |
| My compensation: | 56% |
Broken down by firm size, these responses were still the top three for all firm size ranges. Here is the breakdown:
| Firm size | The people I work with | The work I do | My compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-10 | 54% | 71% | 50% |
| 11-49 | 72% | 41% | 44% |
| 50-100 | 73% | 79% | 68% |
| 101-250 | 76% | 62% | 62% |
| 251-500 | 67% | 63% | 48% |
| 501+ | 64% | 65% | 60% |
The answers by gender (for firms of all sizes) were as follows:
| Gender | The people I work with | The work I do | My compensation |
| Female | 71% | 60% | 46% |
| Male | 62% | 65% | 62% |
Other responses to the question regarding top contributors to job satisfaction showed some differences based on gender, as well as some similarities:
| Gender | Firm’s prestige | Likelihood of partnership | My mentor | My clients |
| Female | 12% | 8% | 21% | 19% |
| Male | 22% | 22% | 22% | 18% |
Diversity
In our survey, we also asked about diversity, including, “How important was the firm’s commitment to diversity in your decision to join the firm?” Here is the breakdown by firm size for each response category:
| Firm size | Very important | Important | Somewhat important | Not important |
| 1-10 | 6% | 17% | 17% | 60% |
| 11-49 | 5% | 3% | 33% | 60% |
| 51-100 | 6% | 5% | 39% | 50% |
| 101-250 | 4% | 12% | 44% | 40% |
| 251-500 | 14% | 29% | 32% | 25% |
| 501+ | 11% | 26% | 30% | 34% |
At firms of all sizes, “diversity in firm leadership” was one of the top factors students used to evaluate a firm’s diversity.
Not surprisingly, there was some divergence in the responses between men and women on the question, “How important was the firm’s commitment to diversity in your decision to join the firm?”
| Gender | Very important | Important | Somewhat important | Not important |
| Female | 14% | 31% | 31% | 24% |
| Male | 5% | 11% | 28% | 56% |
Saying goodbye
For those who had left a firm in the past 24 months, we asked the Millennial lawyers to identify their primary reasons for leaving. Again, there were some noteworthy similarities and differences by gender:
| Gender | Hours/workload | Compensation | Did not see a future at the firm |
| Female | 15% | 13% | 16% |
| Male | 14% | 30% | 26% |
Finally, we also asked Millennial lawyers who had left jobs in the past 24 months whether they had told their firms the real reason they were leaving. For both men and women, the results were virtually identical: About two-thirds shared the real scoop.