Joining Isn’t The Same As Staying: Making Re-recruiting A Priority PRESENTED BY SAM M. ALLRED, DIRECTOR AT UPSTREAM ACADEMY

High performing firms are consistently on guard for trends that might negatively affect their firm’s future success. Two such trends that have emerged in recent years are declining employee loyalty and declining client loyalty.

Our Focus For 60 Minutes With the recession winding down, the exodus of top talent has begun again. Most firms devote significant resources to recruiting and hiring the best; unfortunately, few firms pay as much attention to re-recruiting those same great employees. What are you doing to recognize your best people and convince them that their contribution is important and valued?

Consider This Quote “Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. It is this one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.” Jim Collins

Consider This Quote “It became real obvious to us a long time ago that we weren’t having the kind of success we needed keeping the best and brightest and moving them into positions where they could be leaders in the firm. We determined we were not going to feed internal growth or grow by merger if we didn’t have a manufacturing plant to produce leaders.” Bob Bunting

Email questions to sama@upstreamacademy.com Presentation Roadmap Observations about what’s changed over the years Major challenges facing our employees Making re-recruiting a priority Questions and answers Email questions to sama@upstreamacademy.com

 OBSERVATIONS ABOUT WHAT’S CHANGED OVER THE YEARS

Observation #1 More partners will retire from our profession in the next decade than have retired in the past three decades combined. This means our profession will likely see more new partners in the next ten years than in the past thirty years combined.

Observation #2 When baby boomers entered the profession, many were determined to do whatever it took to become partners. Today, there seems to be less commitment to doing what it takes to become a partner. Many young people wonder whether they even want to be partners.

Observation #3 Years ago, it was commonly believed that you could stay with one firm your entire career if given the right opportunities.

Observation #4 Experts now tell us that today’s entrants into the work force may have as many as 18 jobs before they’ve completed their career.

Observation #5 Many young people today have been told that they need to step into new career opportunities every 12 to 24 months. This is often accompanied by the belief that switching jobs is one of the best ways to find new opportunities.

Observation #6 Many young people in our profession are contacted by head hunters on a regular basis – some as often as once or twice each week. There is always the promise of a higher paying job.

Observation #7 The younger generation is very mobile and experts say they take longer to mature than generations that preceded them.

Observation #8 The millennials want to make a difference in the firm. They want to be centered in the firm’s vision and involved with clients much sooner in their careers.

 MAJOR CHALLENGES FACING OUR EMPLOYEES

The profession is losing thousands of young people each year with three to seven years of experience. What are the challenges young people face that cause them to leave public accounting and pursue a career elsewhere?

The Charge Hour Budget The responsibility to consistently produce a significant number of charge hours feels like a heavy weight to many who enter our profession.

The CPA Exam For some, passing the CPA exam feels like climbing a personal mountain with little hope of reaching the top.

Busy Season The work load compression takes its toll on many. It may seem especially (and unrealistically) demanding for those who don’t want to commit significant amounts of time, even for the three-month period.

Business Development Pressures Many young people are turned off by the pressure to sell services to clients and prospects.

Serving D-Level Clients Most young people struggle with the idea of having to serve clients who put a pit in their stomach.

Partners Who Are Poor Examples Many young people are turned off by firm partners who are poor examples of teamwork, accountability, commitment, change, and discipline. Cruisers are never as inspiring to be around as dynamos.

Partners Working Many Hours Many partners work 2,600 to 3,000 total hours each year. The message consistently sent by the majority of young people in the workforce is that they will not work the same number of hours in their careers as the generation now leading the firm.

Boring Work With No Vision Senior partners sometimes believe that younger staff need to spend years in the trenches paying their dues before earning the privilege of doing “fun stuff.”

 MAKING RE-RECRUITING A PRIORITY

What Should We Be Doing? So, given the declining loyalty in a younger generation of employees, what should you do to recognize your best people and convince them that their contribution is important and valued? Here’s what many high performance firms are doing to re-recruit their best people.

Remove Parity You need to be willing to remove parity when it comes to your best people and treat them as if they are your very best people. This includes: Bonuses Assignments Training Shadowing

Allow Them To Serve Best Clients Jim Collins and David Maister repeatedly emphasize that we need to put our best people on our best opportunities. Clearly our best opportunities lie with our A and B-level clients.

Assign Them Your Best Coaches One of the most powerful retention tools is effective coaching. It’s difficult for people to leave a place of employment when they know someone in leadership cares about them and their career advancement and is playing an active role in helping them grow their skills, knowledge, and confidence.

Create Stepping Stones Within Continually improve career planning with your best people. Ensure opportunities are available for them to make career changes within the firm, so they don’t look elsewhere to fill this need.

Help Your People Feel Centered “Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered, and that gives their work meaning.” Warren G. Bennis

Help Your People To Feel Centered Your best people should have at least one goal each year that ties to the firm’s vision/direction. This will help them feel connected to where the firm is headed.

Focus On Helping Versus Selling You need to change your business development emphasis from selling to clients and prospects to helping clients and prospects.

Focus On Helping Versus Selling

Be Good Examples Of Balance Ensure that you are a good example of work-life quality to your best employees. Are you spending adequate time on those things you most enjoy doing?

Provide Constructive Feedback Constructive feedback regarding their performance and their progress as team members is one of the most valuable things you can provide employees. Young professionals crave feedback and often can’t obtain it by themselves.

 Questions And Answers Email questions to sama@upstreamacademy.com

UPCOMING EVENTS HeadWaters Leadership Conference Denver, Colorado July 10-11, 2014 BestPractices Conference Chicago, Illinois October 28-29, 2014 39

Thank You! sama@upstreamacademy.com