Alongside being an executive at UAE-based law firm Ruthberg LLC, Tom Keya works with large organisations to improve the emotional health of their employees and change their culture for the better. Via his company Soulh, a corporate wellbeing platform designed to improve mental health and burnout in the workplace, Tom is on a mission to make work more human and healthier, yet still productive.
However, this hasn’t always been Tom’s area of expertise or vision. Tom talks to Shop Giejo about how he transitioned away from practicing law in London, made a career change, and focuses today on his mission to make work healthier and more intelligent.
Leaving Law Behind
My business journey started 5 years ago, when I went through a very tough mental health breakdown – caused by the working environment I found myself in.
Ask any lawyer. Law is tough. I realised that something was very wrong: I was on the top of my game as a lawyer, yet I was susceptible to making stupid mistakes, and above all I was not able to enjoy life. I had fun yes, but I was not happy. This culminated in severe anxiety and depression taking over my life.
Law is truly one of the most rewarding careers out there. Both intellectually and financially. But the best lawyers treat law as a lifestyle rather than a job. Those lawyers tend to do the best but also suffer the most. You effectively are as subtly as possible ensuring that at any given time the right people know you are a lawyer, and you are good at what you do. That doesn’t mean showing off or all conversations being about law – it just means that it becomes part of your DNA. When you tell people you are a lawyer, a certain prestige comes with it. You feel proud of what you have achieved, and you are almost guaranteed a comfortable life.
Therein lies the issue – law is incredibly toiling on the mind. You end up being burnt out, exhausted, unable to quit as you are accustomed to a certain lifestyle and also, above all, unable to see yourself as anything other than a lawyer.
There is a wealth of research that shows that working in law firms is detrimental to people’s mental health. Of course, I was aware of how vitally important other people’s stress levels were, but it wasn’t until I experienced mental health issues myself that I decided to raise awareness.
As I started to come out the other side of the mental health crisis, I had a lot of questions. Some of these questions were filled with anger. Others centred on wanting to find out what I could have done differently. When I realised the problem needs systemic change across every professional services sector, not just law, I decided to do something about it.
Since then, I’ve made it my life’s work to communicate with likeminded business leaders to find ways of offering far better mental health support and to raise awareness of the urgent need to do so. My own wellbeing improved as I decided to encourage employees to gain a better understanding of the significant increase in stress that these kinds of workplace jobs come with.
I’m a huge supporter of the need to create happier workplace environments for some of the most overworked and over-stressed people in the world. This is why I founded Soulh, a corporate wellbeing platform designed to improve mental health and burnout in the workplace.
Issues with The Legal Profession
How did I get where I am today – working hard via Soulh and other efforts to improve mental health at work.
Well, the legal profession is dealing with a mental health epidemic. The vast majority of law firms see only business development and growth as priorities. Paying staff more won’t fix mental health in law firms. Instead, they should be considering philanthropic and strategic work to tackle the root cause of mental and physical health issues among their legal staff.
In my experience, employee wellbeing isn’t improved with higher salaries alone. While extra money is always welcome for people, it fails entirely to eradicate the underlying issues.
Despite various online law outlets focusing on the importance of employee wellness, I think senior members of law firm still aren’t getting it. They cling to old-school ideas surrounding high stress levels being ‘part of the job’. And of course, stress is present in most job roles to a level. While it has a place in driving people to work well, stress often tips over into anxiety and depression.
Research shows that 25% of productivity is lost to mental health problems in the workplace. And to work in this sector means a high likelihood of employees dealing with them.
Stress management workshops don’t work. And while online publications on mental health promise much, they generally fail to deliver true systemic change. By tackling this issue head-on, and by regularly communicates with likeminded business leaders, legal firms can potentially increase their revenue by close to 25%.
At the end of the day, I know first-hand the cost of ignoring mental health issues. I ignored them for far too long and it was a mistake. I don’t want others to make the same mistake, and that’s why I’m a passionate supporter of fulfilling this need for systemic change. My mission is to show CEOs and partners, particularly in the legal sector, exactly what’s happening on the ground. This is why my business is pioneering a new kind of mental health software.
Where I am Today – Soulh, Mental Health Software
Soulh is mental health platform for management in a business. What we do is we give CEO’s a map of how the staff are feeling. It is very simple and does NOT offer solutions. It just shows you how teams and team members are doing. For example, the CEO will have visibility when a team is doing great and feeling happy, but one individual isn’t. Or they’ll see that for some odd reason one team, no matter how many staff they have, always appears unhappy. It is done with a very simple survey on Monday mornings – we chose that day as that’s when people are most likely to be honest.
At Soulh, we also offer a line of supplements. The supplements are herbal solutions designed to help people feel a little bit better. Rather than coffee that can contribute to anxiety, this supplement makes people feel calmer and happier. We are using both business lines to mostly raise awareness about mental health.
Soulh software doesn’t give a solution to the underlying problem of mental health. But it does support management in understanding their staff.
By using the software, you’re likely to see happy employees operating in stressful environments and vice versa. You will also be able to see who in the teams are inspiring, and who work better on their own. Having this kind of overview allows you to support people who are struggling when they should be thriving. Management will get a unique insight into the mindset of their staff.
And, assuming they then implement the right kind of support, they will be able to stave off the threat of mass resignations. It will help to foster a healthier working environment for everyone. This software shouldn’t be viewed as a novel product – it’s a necessity. I believe it will quickly find its way into the regulatory framework for monitoring the mental health of lawyers and associated roles.
Challenges and Opportunities of Corporate Wellbeing Industry
The challenges – despite being a really crucial and real issue (we all struggle from time to time, but this gets really critical, especially in law), mental health in the workplace has almost become this buzzword on agendas, which firms try to address but do so in ill-thought out and baseless manners. Corporate wellness programmes fail too often, and I think this is largely because they focus too much on box ticking over actually helping people. The human element within the corporate sector is important, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s inextricably linked to profitability. Often small firms (in that start up, high growth stage) really don’t do much or care for their employee’s mental health I find.
The opportunities: Employers and business leaders have a duty to utilise tools that will tangibly support employee mental health. Combining external aids, such as supplements to help enhance and support along with lifestyle changes can go a long way to providing this kind of support. This I’m launching Soulh. Our intent is not that the answer lies in supplements or just software, but that we can assist in helping employees manage their mental health along with appropriate lifestyle changes and in-office support. Soulh Tech which will help to evaluate where their team’s collective mental health stands, particularly in the wake of the pressures of the pandemic and allow for data analysis in terms of productivity.
Advice To Those Considering Leaving the Legal Industry
For any lawyers who want to leave the sector if they do not feel it is serving them, and take a similar path to me, my message is to take the leap. Lawyers are trained to deal with risk. We often come across something that has either gone horribly wrong (litigation) or a situation that could go horribly wrong (non-contentious work).
This makes lawyers extremely risk averse. And I think this can be detrimental to the way we see the world, and our own mental health. There is a need for lawyers to recognise how few situations actually spiral into the worst possible scenario, and that anyway, risk and failure are not inherently bad.
By accepting that something can go wrong, and making the decision to pursue it anyway, it’s possible to lead a business as founder or co-founder in pretty much any sector and do it successfully.
I found that my legal training made me risk averse. But this just means I mitigate risks, not that I don’t take them in the first place. Leaving the legal sector is very difficult for a lawyer – it’s an addictive and lucrative job. But there is a whole business world out there that needs the skillset of lawyers and can be just as lucrative without being as stressful.
A legal mind enhances most business ideas
Many business ideas, whether in impact investment or launching a new business, would benefit from a legal mind.
Ex-lawyers bring with them a love of structure, appreciation for contracts and, above all, lots of creativity. But all too often lawyers are conditioned to believe that a long career in law is the only way they will ever make money. This is categorically not true. Lawyers are smart enough and determined enough to run just about any kind of business successfully – they often just need a push to make the break.
I can assure you, very few businesses work with the kinds of stressors that face law firms – from clients to team management and several other topics – and yet produce so little reward. My advice to lawyers looking for a different path is to put their energy else and see what they will get.
To find out more information about Tom Keya, please visit his personal website.
- Eye Spy: Worldwide Eye Color Percentages - April 19, 2024
- Elevate Energy, Soothe Stress, And Peak Performance with The New UNBEETABREW Coffee Sensation - September 21, 2023
- Chef Bob’s Coffee: A Journey Fueled by Passion - July 29, 2023
