YEPs Share Employer Best Practices

California CPA magazine: May 2008

It's no secret that attracting and retaining talent is a top priority for businesses. It’s also no surprise that there can be a disconnect between what management thinks emerging professionals are looking for in a job.

Of course, money is an important starting point.  A recent survey of CFOs by Robert Half found 37 percent believe offering higher compensation than competitors is the most effective incentive for attracting accounting professionals. A good benefit package is a close second.

But what makes your firm attractive can include much more than pay and benefits.

California CPA interviewed young and emerging CPAs to ask them about the things—big and small—their employer does for them.

Getting Them in the Door
You’ve heard this before: first impressions go a long way. Whether it’s a website or the first face a job candidate sees, first impressions can get you halfway to landing that perfect employee. For Kristen Contreras, a 34-year-old internal auditor and business risk consulting for Good Swartz Brown & Berns, LLP, the people at her firm “and discovering their enthusiasm for the profession” made an immediate impact.

“An office is an office, but the people in it make a huge difference,” she says.

Of her first impressions of Rothstein Kass, Sindhu Rajesh, 32, says, “They had an attractive website, as well as many different office locations around the nation. There was a great potential for growth.”

Indeed, now with the firm for eight years, Rajesh is a senior manager.

Evidence of growth opportunities also was attractive to 29-year-old Jeff Chen, who has worked for Oaktree Capital Management, LP since October. He says the company was experiencing “tremendous growth” when he interviewed, which meant opportunities would “abound” for him.

To further seal the deal, Chen’s company made it apparent that it would help him with those opportunities. “The company appeared to be very supportive of the career development of its people,” he says. This can take the form of compensating for CPE and professional memberships, or providing in-house training and time off to pursue further education.

Contreras says this attention to new employees is a major factor in bringing in the right talent. “People want to feel that they matter, and want to work with people who will mentor them when they’re starting out in their career,” she says. “Someone who will be aware of the employee’s interests, natural talents and ability that might guide them to a specific career path. It’s all in the mindset of the firm.”

Rajesh’s firm takes this idea one step further with an official mentoring program, which provides every new employee with a mentor to show them the ropes. “Moreover, we typically have new people all join the firm at the same time, and send them to a training program together in New Jersey,” she says. “It’s a great bonding experience. When they come back, they know people in other offices, and they eagerly maintain those contacts.”

High on the list of effective first impressions include a focus on work/life balance; a positive, energetic attitude; paid overtime; and a broad knowledge base and ability for new staffers to learn much more than just the basics.

Keeping Them Happy
Once you’ve nabbed the new talent, the task becomes how to keep them happy—and loyal.

The average age of employees at Rajesh’s firm is 31, and she often finds herself working with people fresh out of college. “I notice (these new employees) are really smart, really computer savvy and have very good networking skills from being a part of so many organizations in school,” she says. “But there are drawbacks. They don’t make long-range commitments and try to take it a year at a time. They want to try things out before committing to a career path, which results in high turnover for firms. Most of the time, they get their CPA license in two years and want to move on—even if everything is going well.”

There are tangible things that can be done to combat this itchy-foot syndrome, among them, simply looking at how the firm  treats employees.

Kevin Jackson, who has worked at CygNet Software for two years, says, “There’s a definite sense of integrity here that keeps me coming back. I know where I stand with my bosses.”

Rajesh also appreciates her workplace relationships. “There’s an open-door policy, and I can walk into any partner’s office any time, even when I was only an entry level staffer—and they knew my name and asked about my family history and my life outside of work,” she says. “They were interested in getting to know me as a person.”

“My company’s culture stresses professionalism with sincerity, which means that we operate in a team environment with a great degree of interaction across disciplines,” says Chen about what keeps him at his job.

While this theme of being part of a team and integral part of the company was key, as well as you treat the new talent, they’re still going to want some concrete benefits.

Everyone’s Favorite Buzzword: Flexibility
Flex time. It’s something that emerging professionals tend to bring up frequently, but sometimes not in the way one might expect.

Rajesh says Rothstein Kass has a couple of different takes on flexibility. For example, employees can take overtime and convert it into extra paid time off. Or, employees in the audit or tax department, who are just coming off their busy season and have used their PTO, can still take time off, but with 20 percent of their pay and full benefits—as long as it falls in a specific period.

“It’s a way to help people get back their life balance after the busy periods,” she says.

Rajesh says her company also has a customized work arrangement program for full-time hourly employees (at least 1,000 hours worked annually). “I tell the company what hours I’m comfortable working—say 30-35 hours a week—and the company makes sure to only schedule me for that many hours,” she explains.
“It works for both parties: the company doesn’t automatically lose an employee they’ve trained, and I still get to do what I like to do without having to sacrifice my career for the sake of my family. And it doesn’t have to be just for mothers-to-be. We’ve had people use it to pursue a boxing career, an MBA or to take time out to care for sick family members.”

Patrick Cabildo, 31, says his former firm of Smith Marion & Co., provided flex time, but under a different name. “It was called ‘being a professional,’ as in, if you get the work done, you can do whatever you want. That was very attractive to me. It gives you the autonomy to be a professional,” he says.

The Little Things Matter
Beyond being a nice boss who provides flexible hours and respects employees, other little things also matter. Jackson appreciates that his company encourages and pays for his CPE, but he also likes “all the goodies in the kitchen. They make sure we have snacks and things to eat,” he says.

Speaking of food, Contreras says she thought it was cool when the partners came to the office wielding waffle irons and mixing bowls and made everyone breakfast. And Rajesh appreciates her firm’s efforts to mix things up a bit during the busy season with Hawaiian themed casual days and, more important, Wii bowling and golf breaks.

Many of these little things—like having partners take new staffers to lunch, organizing social gatherings like softball or trips to the ballpark or providing a makeshift recreation room in the office—take a little creativity and dedication of time and space, but they show employees that their well-being matters, and that goes a long way.

From the Horse’s Mouth
On a more theoretical side of things, we asked the, “If you were the boss …” question to get an idea of how young and emerging professionals ideally would like to be treated.

“I would recommend promoting an exciting and creative environment (such as workspace personalization); providing a clear vision with strong and consistent communication; providing for easy access to policies, forms and general information; and promoting healthy and active lifestyles,” says Jackson.

Contreras says she would listen very carefully and provide honest feedback, “putting people at the top of my list of assets.” She would encourage and empower people with a positive, enthusiastic approach, and soft skills like communication, mentoring, conflict resolution, negotiation and networking would be a major focus, “especially as they advance further up the ladder.”

“We have good leadership at my company but, if I were in charge, I would further enhance the growth and development of YEPs by clearly delineating performance measurement goals, ensuring an atmosphere of mentorship and encouraging YEPs to actively participate and expand their career responsibilities,” says Chen. “I strongly believe that everyone learns through the challenges faced on-the-job, but such learning is often accentuated through one’s drive and strong work ethics, combined with meaningful guidance from seasoned leadership.”

So, competitive compensation and benefit packages aside, attracting and retaining a promising employee can often come down to offering no- or low-cost perks, such as flex time, mentoring or a combination of the benefits discussed here. Examining this input from young CPAs and implementing some of these ideas is, quite simply, part of planning the future of your organization.

Damien English is CalCPA’s managing editor. You can reach him at  damien.english@calcpa.org.