How to Get Your Good People to Stay

Great ideas from a roundtable group of Next Generation partners from large local CPA firms:

Recognition.  There’s a difference between reward and recognition.  A reward is nice, but it has a short-term impact.  Better yet, tell her “thank you for doing a great job.” This can’t be said too much and it has a longer term impact.

Flexibility on core hours.  Firms need to learn that staff production is not about “butts in seats.”  Give your staff flexibility to set their own core work hours.  But it’s a two-way street:  Flexibility in exchange for satisfying client needs, meeting deadlines and doing quality work.

Work-life balance.  Empower your staff to take time off.  A good reason to not allow vacation carryover is it forces staff to take vacation.

Eliminate the “two year” mindset (how long entry-level staff plan to stay your firm).  When you interview staff, tell them you are hiring them to become a partner.  Show them what your firm does to help them become partner.  Explain why this is a good thing.  Share with them what a CPA firm partner earns.

Create advancement opportunities.  Take staff out to clients and on prospect calls as much as possible.  Push down work to staff; give them ownership in the clients they work on.  Vary their experiences; don’t maroon staff at the same desk on the same clients year after year.

Leadership development.  When staff come to you with a question, don’t always give them the answer.  If they ask why, tell them “it makes you look smart.”  Convene periodic meetings where a rotating staff person does some research on a topic they really like and present the results to the group in a Q&A session.

Seek feedback.  One firm said “our partners regularly take groups of 2-3 staff out to lunch to get their feedback and suggestions.”

The common thread of the above is being proactive.  These are planned activities designed to get staff to stay with your firm longer than a few years.  Try it.  You’ll like it!

To learn more about the management of a CPA firm, click on our monograph CPA Firm Management and Governance.