Our People

We undertake an annual Wellbeing Survey which has been updated to align to our values, with staff invited to share their insights and feed into a firm-wide baseline measure of our values in practice.

The results highlighted several of our strengths, including strong relationships across teams, a sense of trust and reliability among colleagues, and a culture that respects all backgrounds.

Areas flagged up for improvement included colleagues worrying about work outside of hours and taking breaks during the day, although scores for both of these showed improvement on previous years. This is a common challenge reported across the egal sector, and the firm has committed to looking at ways to manage the demands and to best support wellbeing.

The survey remains an important part of our ongoing improvement programme and we are always grateful to everyone who takes the time to fill in the survey and provide additional feedback on issues. We’ll keep at it!

As a result of staff workshops highlighting the importance of open and transparent communication, and aligned with our values, we have implemented ‘Open Door’.

This is a confidential channel connecting our people, People Team and management. Open Door is a safe, private space to share thoughts, suggestions, and questions as we drive further positive change.

It enables people to raise issues, concerns or questions outside of the normal channels and the annual survey, and is a way of exchanging qualitative feedback and information confidentially.

Once a question or a piece of feedback has been submitted, our People Team responds directly via the Open Door platform, ensuring that answers or further information is received via a closed feedback loop.

The People Team also shares questions and feedback with our Managing Partner, Steven Petrie, who can provide a response but fundamentally can review feedback every quarter to monitor particular issues and concerns firm-wide. He also shares the most common questions and feedback topics to ensure total transparency. As the name suggests, this is a genuine Open Door!

It was a very proud moment for us as a firm to be awarded the Investors in People ‘Gold Award’ in 2022; reflecting our position as a responsible employer. Following re-accreditation this year, we’re even prouder to have retained our Gold award and achieve an upward trend in scores for leadership and living our values. We are purposefully ambitious to continue improving our culture and the conditions for performance as we grow – for our people and our clients.

The Mindful Business Charter (MBC) is a charity and a community of employer organisations formed by leading law firms and banks to reduce unnecessary stress in the workplace, with the aim of creating healthier and more productive workplaces.

Since becoming a signatory of the Charter, we have introduced our very own Wellbeing Committee, survey and designated Mental Health First Aiders / Wellbeing Champions.

There are few things better than knowing the people you work with appreciate and value what you do.

Of course, this can be done via informal feedback during the course of the normal working day, but we also think that great work deserves greater recognition.

That’s why we have implemented a system of peer-to-peer recognition using our feedback platform, HIVE HR. All of our people can now send ‘Hive-Fives’ via the platform to celebrate everyday wins and the achievements of our colleagues, however, big or small. Users can choose whether to just share it with the person they’ve nominated or to spread the news across the firm.

This is a great way to acknowledge great work, build bonds with colleagues and boost the feel good factor and has already proved a hit with colleagues across the firm.

We recognise that formal annual reviews are not always the best and most effective way to monitor performance and assess progress.

That’s why we’ve revised our approach to analysing performance by encouraging agile and straightforward conversations through regular touchpoints.

Through increased and respectful conversations, we seek to reflect on progress, set goals and continuously strive to be the best we all can be.

As well as making a commitment to continued progress to the people within Ward Hadaway, we also believe in making that public.

That’s why we are:

• A supporter of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter.
• A signatory of the West Yorkshire Fair Work Charter.
• A receiver of the Standard award for the North East’s Good Work Pledge, now known as Shine.

Our ongoing involvement with these organisations reflects our commitment towards making Ward Hadaway a great place to work – and operating as a truly responsible business.

Our Mental Health First Aiders are colleagues who are trained to support any employees experiencing mental health concerns.

This programme is a non-judgemental, empathetic, respectful and private support process designed to provide emotional and practical support – while guiding people towards the correct professional and personal support for their needs.

We provide free access to a confidential employee assistance programme in addition to applications such as Headspace. Headspace is designed to enhance mental wellbeing, reduce stress and increase focus through guided meditation and mindfulness exercises.

Within our offices there are dedicated spaces for wellbeing, meditation, prayer or quiet time; known as ‘Your Space’. Rooms are available to all of our people at times which suit them.

Adapting an initiative first founded by charity Living Streets, 2024 saw our first month-long scheme in support of Mental Health Awareness Week – known as ‘Walk This May’. During the event, our staff completed 1,546 walks and raised £2,000 for our chosen charities.

This proved to be so successful that we have now made this an annual event, enabling staff to take a break, reduce stress through exercise and support local causes.

We have overhauled our previous processes to ensure that we maintain a consistent and streamlined recruitment process for different positions right across the firm.

This process is designed to ensure we attract and retain people who align with values of being straightforward, respectful and ambitious, regardless of their background.

We have signed up to the Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter and strive to achieve best practice in our recruitment, retention and career progression practices.

We also support the development of good diversity practice by collecting and sharing examples of practical activities that contribute to progress.

Recognising that non-traditional routes into the legal profession can foster incredible talent, we operate a range of programmes enabling our People to develop their skills towards qualification.

We have operated a Solicitor Apprenticeship programme for six years and in that time have tripled the number of Solicitor Apprentices in the Firm, offering them a broad range of seats in their first four years and a place on our trainee programme in their final two years.

We have an established programme to empower paralegals and other non-qualified lawyers to work with their departments and line managers to take advantage of the SQE or Cilex routes to qualification.

Our routes are not limited to those in legal roles, as we have also been able to offer a range of non-legal apprenticeships and development opportunities within business services.

Thinking about careers in the law isn’t something which comes naturally to many students, particularly those from less privileged backgrounds. That’s why our work with schools starts from an early age and cuts across a range of different areas.

For example, we’ve partnered with educational organisations to deliver talks on the basics of finance and why it matters as you grow up, encouraging pupils as young as Year 6 to think about their futures and how they can progress.

We’ve worked with local Further Education colleges on mentoring schemes to support students who have shown interest in a career in the law, helping them to navigate the pitfalls and make the most of the opportunities.

Positive Footprints’ Raising Aspirations programme is delivered in primary schools to try to address the problems of poor social mobility. By delivering learning aids, support and training, it supports each school to deliver an addition to the curriculum that helps to raise aspirations, open up the world of work and equip pupils with the skills they need for the future. The programme then remains with that school, leaving a lasting legacy. The Positive Footprints Network creates opportunities for the next generation of leaders, problem solvers and change-makers. We have invested in a number of such programmes across the North of England.

We undertook the Enterprise Challenge schools outreach programme at Christ Church School in Shieldfield in partnership with Vicki Stone of On The Up. The programme is designed to equip young people with valuable business acumen and entrepreneurial skills and our involvement in it saw us win the Best CSR Initiative at the 2024 People in Law Awards.

“Ward Hadaway played a key role in making On The Up’s In-School Business Enterprise Programme award-winning. Their commitment to good corporate social responsibility was brought to life through the enthusiasm and dedication of their trainees, who volunteered at the school. We were so proud to work alongside such a hardworking and good-humoured team.

“Their support not only enriched the student experience but truly elevated the programme.”

Vicki Stone, On the Up

Recognising that non-traditional routes into the legal profession can foster incredible talent, we operate a range of programmes enabling our People to develop their skills

We are very fortunate that our offices are located in some of the real hotbeds of learning across the UK with a raft of excellent universities literally on our doorsteps.

Our Emerging Talent Team has developed a strategy of creating commercial and academic partnerships across our regions.

One of the key initiatives we have been involved with recently in this field is IntoUniversity. This charity offers programmes to support young people from disadvantaged areas to attain their chosen career aspiration, including further and higher education, employment and work-based learning.

IntoUniversity has centres across the country, and our involvement with the programme sees our trainee and more junior colleagues engage with students on the programme in a range of support, mentoring and enrichment capacities.

Across our Leeds and Newcastle offices*, we have already helped over 100 students get to grips with the realities of a career in law, see how their skills can be used in a business setting and inspire them to achievement in their chosen professions.

We have also worked with Durham University’s Changemakers programme to fund internships that enable students to support their peers undertaking charitable placements – broadening access to real world experience and leadership development.

We have also led initiatives such as the Gateshead College Mentoring Scheme and On The Up (as mentioned on the previous page), which are focused on breaking down barriers to opportunity and empowering young people from underrepresented backgrounds to succeed in education, employment, and enterprise.

We look forward to continuing our strong relationships with schools, colleges and universities right across our office network to widen opportunity, increase access and help develop future leaders of the firm.

* Manchester’s office has been fully funded by a private philanthropist.

“I began my Solicitor Apprenticeship at Ward Hadaway, straight from sixth form at 18 years old, which was a bit of a daunting experience. However, from my very first day everyone was so welcoming and there was always someone to turn to if I had any questions, worries or just needed someone to talk to.

I spent my first two years in the Debt Recovery Team where I gained the confidence to manage my own case load, conduct client meetings and handle a large amount of calls daily from debtors, clients and third parties, some of which were of a difficult nature. I never thought I would be able to do these things at such a young age but due to the supervision I received, I was able to develop these skills quickly. I created strong relationships with clients and received some great feedback when I left the team.

My third year has been in the Commercial Property Team in Real Estate where I am involved in a wide range of transactions such as preparing due diligence enquiries, Land Registry applications, title reviews and drafting documents. I work with a wide range of individuals in the team from paralegals, associates and partners as well as cross department which is helpful to see how other teams work.

I am now looking forward to moving into the Employment Team for another year before starting my training contract.

As I am a solicitor apprentice, I also attend university one day a week to obtain my law degree. I have obtained high grades in all of my modules so far as well as working on my apprenticeship portfolio for qualification. I was appointed to the Law School Honour Roll for the academic year of 2022-2023.

The supportive mentorship has accelerated my growth whilst also being challenged to allow me to progress. I am experiencing first hand client interactions and diving into interesting legal theory. And having no student debt is a great bonus!”