It takes a great team to be successful.
How do you know what your team wants? What are they looking for?
In my firm and my network firms, we discuss the top 6 things employees want. Knowing what your staff wants helps you assemble a team and a workplace that leads to high employee retention. We have to remember, there are always large firms and recruiters trying to poach our amazing employees. We invest months training our employees and we don’t want to lose them. Through knowing what employees desire in their career allows us to offer what they want so they won’t entertain the idea of leaving.
Even though most firms are generationally diverse, we find they all share these common wants. In speaking with our network member firms, here is a list of top employee wants:
1. Employees want feedback.
They want feedback on their performance as they want to know what they are doing well and how they can improve. Remember, good communication is paramount for developing a positive, successful firm.
2. Employees seek flexibility.
With the changing workplace landscape, a significant number of employees prefer a fully remote or hybrid workplace. Evaluating your firm to determine if remote operations can be achieved is important for maintaining your employees as it is possible, they could be recruited from a different geographic location.
3. Employees prefer to be made aware of a clear path.
People like certainty and want to know if I do this, I get this. This affords employees a defined structure for advancement, whether it is becoming a manager, a senior, or a partner.
4. Employees want to be valued.
They want to be part of a team. I have found in my firm, every generation enjoys working together as a team, but millennials insist on working as a team and require it.
5. Employees require good technology.
They need it to be functional and allow for efficiency. We don’t want them to be frustrated and need to make it as easy as possible to do their job.
6. Employees require transparency.
Employees want transparency in all aspects of their job. They want transparency with salary. In our firm, we post the salary range and reward our top performers at the top of the range. Besides salary, we offer bonuses to our employees. We want our employees to operate as a team; therefore, we emphasize our team and give team bonuses. Due to past experience, we don’t give individual bonuses as it discouraged employees and created a negative workplace atmosphere.
Knowing what your staff wants helps you retain your valued employees, leading to decreased employee turnover. Especially, with the accounting industry seeing a shortage of CPAs, it’s important to create a successful culture.
If you would like to learn more about building and recruiting the best team for your CPA firm, please contact us today!