{"id":59940,"date":"2019-05-20t12:00:33","date_gmt":"2019-05-20t16:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/48e130086c.nxcli.net\/?p=59940"},"modified":"2019-05-27t13:11:13","modified_gmt":"2019-05-27t17:11:13","slug":"6-ways-to-retain-nextgen-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2019\/05\/20\/6-ways-to-retain-nextgen-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"six ways to retain nextgen staff"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"wilson\"<\/a>
wilson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

68% of young employees are job hunting in the next year. how about yours?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

by marc rosenberg<\/i>
\n
the rosenberg practice management library<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

our chicago roundtable, consisting of the most prestigious and largest local cpa firms in the windy city, convened a conference that brought the house down. jennifer wilson, who leads convergence coaching, was our\u00a0speaker.<\/p>\n

more: <\/b>how to develop a truly progressive nextgen culture<\/a> | the top 5 concerns of great managing partners<\/a> | partners: when to speak up and when to shut up<\/a>
\n\"goprocpa.com\"exclusively for pro members. <\/span><\/strong>
log in here<\/a> or 2022世界杯足球排名 today<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

having the right staff and using people in the right way \u2013 highest and best use \u2013 and keeping your best people is still the #1 challenge that firms face. jen addressed this issue with magnum force.
\n<\/p>\n

technology<\/h3>\n

we\u2019ve all heard that young people crave technology. a quick turnoff to staff is a stodgy firm with out-of-date technology. many firms think they are tech-savvy but in reality, they don\u2019t walk the talk. having the kind of technology that gets young people excited starts with budgeting the kind of money it takes to stay technologically advanced and exciting.<\/p>\n

one way to convince partners who are reluctant to spend the right amount of money on technology is to look at benchmarking studies that show the percentage of it expenditures compared to revenue (4-5 percent of revenue). if your firm is below the norm, fix this right away.<\/p>\n

many firms have partners who refuse to stay current with technology. partners unwilling to use technology properly is a \u201cfiring-squad\u201d offense.<\/p>\n

remote work
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

this is on the rise at cpa firms. a lot of old-school partners are reluctant to embrace it and must get over this. the hard thing about remote work is that it forces firms to manage … and cpas struggle with how to effectively manage and motivate staff, whether they admit it or not.<\/p>\n

we’ve seen the enemy and the enemy is us
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

(a classic line from the pogo cartoon). <\/em>at many firms, problems arise not because of outside forces or unsatisfactory behavior of firm personnel, but by the detrimental conduct of the partners. great example: years ago, i led a roundtable of cpa firms for whom female partners comprised only 4 percent of all partners. i asked the partners what they thought the problem was. after 20 seconds of silence, one partner looked at me and asked, \u201care you suggesting that the problem is us?\u201d<\/p>\n

the way firms should be treating and managing their staff is quite different from when most partners were staff themselves. cpas are naturally conservative and averse to change. compounding this are two flaws (and there are many more) in the traditional cpa firm operating model. first, partners are way too busy. they are working in the business instead of on the business, mostly because they are incredibly busy getting clients, chalking up ridiculous levels of billable hours including a lot of delegable staff-level work and keeping clients. this limits the amount of time partners spend mentoring staff.<\/p>\n

second, ask yourself this: what\u2019s the most critically important performance attribute of partners that gets directly and clearly compensated the least<\/strong>? developing staff by far. how can we expect partners to manage and mentor staff effectively if they aren\u2019t paid much for it?<\/p>\n

most firms have partners who approach their duties with staff passive-aggressively. without overtly stating it or admitting it, they essentially opt out of managing and developing nextgen staff. what should firms do about this?<\/p>\n