We recognise the importance of helping our colleagues, clients and the communities we operate in thrive. Working together without hierarchy and with high levels of communication and engagement supports and enhances our unique collegiate culture.

Knights’ culture is simple. We support our people while giving them freedom. We focus on what people contribute, we reward people who deliver, we help each other, and we are honest.

We’re proud of this approach and believe it makes us a stronger and happier business. We’ll be doing more to empower our colleagues and build on the Group’s employee net promoter score of +24. Our colleagues are key to providing great client service, as proved by our strong client net promoter score of +72.

Knights’ approach means we are increasingly diverse. We are proud that the percentage of female Partners remains in the top 10 percentile of the industry, and that we benefit from the talent of a wide range of ethnicities, religious backgrounds and sexual orientations.

Working life at Knights centres on creating a supportive environment which puts our professionals first and allows them to grow, set and realise their own ambitions. This makes us stand out. At Knights there are no glass ceilings or limits on how our people can progress. Our people are in control of their own careers.

Health and wellbeing

Focusing on the wellbeing of colleagues, and ensuring they are supported, happy and healthy is paramount to us. Our ‘one team’ collaborative culture is something of which we are immensely proud. Health and wellbeing was the key focus of our recent whole company event in June where, in open and honest question and answer sessions, we listened to our incredible people so we can develop further how we look after their health and wellbeing and support them in developing their careers.

We also provide all colleagues with access to Health Assured – a health and wellbeing platform that provides guidance, support and resources for helping colleagues in any circumstance.

Learning and personal development

Investing in the growth of our people is important to the business. Excluding our 35 Trainee Solicitors and three Apprentices who are enrolled in formal training programmes, our colleagues have received circa 3,747 hours of formal training across areas ranging from technical skills, business skills, and health and wellbeing.

Salaries and promotions

Alongside our recent work to properly price the value that we deliver to clients, we conducted a full salary review which has enabled us to deliver positive uplifts to colleagues across the Group. We are confident that the salaries we offer, at all levels, are competitive. We have also made 109 promotions during the year, reflecting how we continue to nurture and develop our talent and recognise high performance.

Flexibility

The adoption of a hybrid working model has provided a good balance for our people, giving flexibility and choice regarding their working arrangements whilst continuing to benefit from our team-based culture. We have continued to invest in technology, building on the technological improvements we implemented during the pandemic to facilitate a more seamless connection between home and office. Knights supports and promotes a balance between work and personal life to meet individual needs. 15% of colleagues work part-time, including 23% of Partners.

Offices

Our offices continue to be central to everything we do and are fundamental in supporting learning and development, collaborative working and building inclusive teams. That is why we continue to invest in grade A office space that offers a modern working environment and capacity for future growth.

Part of creating a healthy working environment involves enabling our colleagues to make an impact beyond the business. It helps them to feel good, build relationships outside the business, and contribute to the communities in which we operate.

We believe those who help others are more engaged and better connected within the communities they serve as part of their work for the business.

This is why Knights’ 4 Our Community programme is so important. It encourages colleagues to use four working hours per month to give back to their local communities.

Each month, Knights’ colleagues do amazing things in their communities. Giving our colleagues time to volunteer, fundraise and support the causes they care about is rewarding for them - and beneficial to the communities we are part of.

4OC is our community volunteering framework. It gives Knights’ colleagues four working hours a month to support a cause that is important to them – supporting charities and community projects that need it. In the last year, Knights colleagues have delivered 1,220 hours of support to more than 150 causes across the UK.