Client training by the legal department and two metrics to show how it can pay for itself

An article in the Acad. Mgt. Exec., Feb. 2005 at 9, concerns incivility in the work place. It gives two statistics that are at least five years old that can help a law department justify its cost and value its contribution to the client.

“Among the Fortune 500, the annual cost of sexual harassment has been estimated to exceed $6 million per company in absenteeism, lost productivity, and turnover alone.” The article notes that this figure does not include “the great financial burdens of settlement costs, lawsuits and legal fees,” or other expenditures and losses. A law department that trains clients to reduce the incidence of sexual harassment could draw on such estimates to justify its work.

The same article adds a second metric later. “Fully loaded costs of turnover [are] estimated at 1.5 to 2.5 times the salary paid for the job.” To the extent training reduces turnover, the department can perhaps claim a contribution to these savings (See my post of March 8, 2009: attrition in law departments with 16 references and one metapost.)