How to make sure your staff stays motivated

We all know the importance of having a talented and motivated team to grow your business and bolster your firm’s reputation. However, this doesn’t start overnight. 

Recruiting new, talented staff is expensive. As is dealing with turnover, and if your existing employees feel as though they’re better elsewhere, you’re going to lose much of your time filling up gaps and training staff. With the tax and extension seasons taking up months out of the year, focusing on employee retention is more important than ever. How do you ensure your accounting firm’s staff stays motivated? This blog can help. 

Invest Time in Developing Your Employees

Developing the skills and expertise of a new accountant takes a considerable amount of time, typically years. Not only do they have to learn how your firm operates, but there’s a certain rhythm they have to follow to balance existing clients while attracting new ones. It’s akin to planting a tree, caring for it, and patiently waiting for the fruit to grow. As a result, investing in your employees' development is crucial for your accounting practice's long-term success. Otherwise, they may seek other opportunities offering more growth and development.

Develop People and Focus on Soft Skills

After identifying the employees who show potential, it's important to provide them with guidance and support in both the short and long term. This should include addressing day-to-day issues and career planning. It's important for every professional to have a mentor who is invested in their career growth and to spend time learning and observing others. While technical knowledge is important, it's equally crucial to focus on developing skills that will help them become well-rounded professionals, such as client-relationship management. This involves active listening, asking the right questions, and delivering tough news to clients, which is a key aspect of coaching and mentoring that should not be overlooked.

Teach Business Development and Mold Career Paths

The industry struggles with business development because it's a crucial skill for business growth, but not easily learned or inherent. Firms want more of it, but don't share enough best practices. To address this, it's better to involve professionals in business development early in their career to learn and gain confidence. Employees often leave because they feel stuck and see better opportunities elsewhere. To prevent this, you can create a clear career path with manageable steps to align expectations and retain talent.

Offer Equity to Your Employees

You want your firm to succeed because it’s yours. Why not have your employees feel the same? Nothing attracts talent like a sense of ownership. By providing your staff with equity, they are more encouraged to want to see the firm succeed because its success is theirs as well. Firms are built on the partnership model, and that’s an important factor when you want to consider what makes some practices stronger than others. 

Find Out What Your Employees Want

Have you taken the time to understand the aspirations of your team members? Do they wish to become a partner in your firm or prefer to remain a senior employee and have a flexible work-life balance? Learning about your employees' goals and creating a customized plan that suits their needs is crucial. This will demonstrate that you care about their professional and personal growth and increase their motivation to perform well.

Offer Professional Development Opportunities

Professional development opportunities can be a great way to keep your staff motivated. Not only do these opportunities help your employees learn new skills and knowledge, but they also show that you are invested in their future with the company.

Some examples of professional development opportunities include attending industry conferences, participating in online courses, or even simply shadowing more experienced colleagues. By offering these opportunities, you can help your staff stay engaged in their work, while also showing that you are committed to their growth and development.

Create a Positive Workplace Culture

A positive workplace culture can be a powerful tool for keeping your staff motivated. When employees feel part of a positive and supportive team, they are more likely to work hard and contribute to the company's success.

You can take steps to create a positive workplace culture by encouraging open communication, recognizing and rewarding good work, and fostering a sense of community among your staff. By creating a positive workplace culture, you can help your staff feel valued and motivated, which can ultimately lead to better performance and results.

Show Gratitude

Finally, showing gratitude can be a simple but powerful way to engage your staff. When employees feel that their contributions are appreciated and valued, they are more likely to continue working hard and producing quality work.

You can show gratitude in various ways. This can include simply saying thank you to your staff for their hard work, providing rewards or incentives for good work, or hosting a company-wide appreciation event. By showing gratitude, you can help your staff feel valued, ultimately leading to better results.

Focus on Work-Life Balance

One of the biggest causes of burnout and low motivation in the workplace is a lack of work-life balance. Your employees are not machines, they have personal lives outside of work and it's important to respect that.

You can take steps to ensure that your staff has a healthy work-life balance. This can include offering flexible work hours or the option to work remotely. Additionally, you can make sure that your staff takes breaks throughout the day and aren't expected to work long hours every day of the week.

Remember, happy and rested employees are more productive and motivated in the long run. And that’s essential during tax season. As we all know, tax season has many around the industry exhausting themselves, working long hours, and struggling to find time for themselves. Yet there are solutions to providing your staff with a better work-life balance even during the busy season. 

How can Taxfyle help? 

Motivating staff is an essential aspect of running an accounting firm. With Taxfyle, we can make that process easier. Stress and burnout are some of the leading reasons why employees choose to leave workplaces for new opportunities. We take the busy work off your shoulders so your staff has more time to engage with clients and improve their work-life balance, even during the busy season. 

Firms that have used Taxfyle to augment their workflows during the tax and extension seasons have reported significant improvements in their ability to find more time during the week to focus on themselves and clients. By partnering with Taxfyle, you can augment your firm and begin making more value-added connections with your clients because your staff and partners have more time freed up. 

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Give your firm the boost it needs when you partner with Taxfyle. 

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