As the race for talent heats up, I find myself spending more time at meetings with leaders of professional service firms.
You know - CPA firms, law firms, engineering firms… and I’m scared.
The people scare me.
The workplaces scare me.
Sometimes, the coffee scares me.
Now, I know that these are all good people. They’re utterly kind. Thoroughly professional. And they mean well.
But I’m equally certain that the Cluetrain has pulled away and left many of them stranded at the station.
Take for example, this article by Cynthia Umphries. In it, she suggests “golden handcuffs” (AKA obscene pay) as a sure-fire way to keep valuable talent from leaving. I’m sure there was a day - maybe sometime in August, 1958 - when that would’ve worked.
For Ward Cleaver.
But ask any group of up-and-comers what will get them to stay at your firm, and you won’t hear them say, “Golden Handcuffs.” (At least, not in the way Ms. Umphries suggests.)
You can’t bribe the next generation to stay at a crappy company.
But wait. There’s more.
Recently my colleague Gary Boomer conducted a “Benchmarking with Your Peers” session at the 2008 Winning is Everything conference in Las Vegas. The audience was mostly Managing Partners and leaders of CPA firms. Boomer used those nifty little remote controls to get real-time feedback from the audience. Here are some of the results:
What is your age?
- 29% Aged 51-55
- 26% Aged 46-50
- 17% Aged 56-60
- 16% Aged 41-45
- 6% Aged 61-65
- 6% Under 40
- 1% Over 65
What is your firm’s biggest challenge?
- 47% Retention and Attraction of Employees
- 22% Growth
- 19% Succession
How does your firm view people?
- 63% As Employees
- 28% As Free Agents
- 9% As Volunteers
Does your firm have an employee recognition program? (Catch people doing things right)
- 60% No
- 40% Yes
Does your firm use electronic bill payment?
- 66% No
- 34% Yes
At what level do you want to play?
- 80% Improvement
- 16% Transformed Culture
- 4% Exponential Growth
Incidentally, here are the two questions I requested responses for:
Do you have a tattoo (body art)?
- 92% No
- 8% Yes
Have you bungee-jumped or sky-dived?
- 83% No
- 17% Yes
This data could lead you to believe that CPA firms are run by older, prudish luddites who believe a paycheck is all the thanks people need for a job well done.
If that’s true, then it’s no wonder that ‘retaining talent’ is one of the industry’s top issues.
Like I said, I’m scared.
Please pass my bungee cord. As I wrote in my last post, I’m takin’ the leap.
