The real cost of silence: what your firm loses when employees are too afraid to speak up
When people in law firms are too afraid to speak up, it can lead to serious problems for both staff and the business. Claudia De Silva explains how silence affects wellbeing, teamwork, and performance - and why it’s vital to create a workplace where people feel safe to be open and honest.
In the hierarchical corridors of law firms, silence often masquerades as harmony. In reality, it is likely to be the symptom of a deeply problematic culture.
The world of legal practice is high-pressured. Legal culture dictates that employees get it right first time, bill as much as they can, and ideally keep quiet if you don’t know, don’t understand or might create an issue. The culture also sends the message that it would rather not know if someone is struggling— whether technically or mentally. In fact, it's survival of the quiet.
However, law firms need to start building psychologically safe environments where individuals at any level feels safe to break the wall of silence, because they can't afford not to. This article explores the multifaceted costs of silencing employees and offers practical solutions for creating a culture where feedback, transparency, and open communication are not only accepted but actively encouraged.
Why employees stay silent
There are several reasons why employees may be fearful of speaking up: fear of reprisals, unequal power dynamics, fear of not being believed or their concerns not being worth addressing, fear of being ostracised, or harming their future career prospects.
The reality is employees don't speak up when they don't feel psychologically safe.
A report by McKinsey in 2023 ranked legal services in the bottom quartile for psychologically safe metrics. The importance of this finding becomes clear when considering that in the same year, LexisNexis issued a report showing that law firms with higher psychological safety scores reported 28% higher profitability per partner than those at the bottom.
Profitability metrics are of course important, but the impact of an 'eyes down' culture on the mental health and wellbeing of a firm's employees has also become too loud to ignore. An article by Dr Bob Murray for Legal 500 observed that about one in three lawyers of all stripes ideate suicide once a year. Almost none of them confide in anyone—even their doctors—about how they feel.
The high price tag of workplace silence
A culture of silence poses financial, ethical, and reputational risks to firms - and can ultimately lead to their downfall.
Silent cultures turn a blind eye to unacceptable workplace behaviours. Bullying and harassment can be rife when no one speaks up. The impact of such avoidance accelerates staff turnover, with talent, knowledge and client care all directly and negatively impacted. The cost of replacing a single mid-to-senior member of the team can range from £50,000 to £150,000 in both tangible and intangible costs. In an environment where time really is money, this comes at a huge cost to law firms.
Additionally, ongoing retention issues create a disengaged workforce among those in the "survivors' space" - the ones left behind. Where little is done to combat unacceptable behaviours, remaining employees become disengaged and fail to perform at their optimum level - which ultimately affects client care and service.
How can firms fix this issue?
It’s time for law to have a #breakthesilence moment. Cultures of silence and the issues they cause are even less acceptable by today's standards than they were a few years ago. Leadership must start shifting cultures and accept that this is an industry-wide issue that needs to be fixed.
Leaders in law firms need to:
- Hold partners accountable for creating psychologically safe environments.
- Adopt a feedback culture that welcomes challenge and dissenting opinions.
- Acknowledge mistakes openly and adopt a culture of learning from them.
- Demonstrate the importance of vulnerability from the top down, showing how it encourages innovation, transparency, improved client experience, and greater productivity.
This work is complex and requires expert support to ensure the implementation leads to lasting cultural change and addresses the anxieties and defences that have resisted it until now. Therefore, firms must commit both financially and psychologically to a fully strategic and structural intervention that encompasses every element of improving workplace culture.
Why this matters?
Firms that harness the full potential of their employees will be best equipped to thrive in an increasingly complex legal and global landscape. By creating environments where concerns can be raised without fear, where mistakes can be learned from, and where problems can be identified early, law firms position themselves as sustainable models for the future.
The cost of silence has become too high to ignore.
Claudia De Silva
Claudia is an organisational consultant and "Workplace fixer," who partners with Leadership teams to cultivate environments of profound psychological safety. She empowers them to build cultures where trust is embedded, authentic collaboration thrives, and innovation naturally emerges.
Her approach is grounded in 25 years of experience that combines HR expertise, legal training, psychological training, and real-world leadership including founding her own businesses.
She is passionate about making organisations happier and more productive places to be and regularly writes on this subject for industry magazines such as HR Director, Start Up Magazine and Authority Online. She is also regularly asked to comment as an expert for topical business matters for HR Magazine.
If anything in this article has resonated or you would like to find out more about how Claudia can advise your business on how to build a safer and more productive workplace environment then please contact her on LinkedIn, email her or visit her website.
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