Rising above the staffing challenge
By Cristina Joy D. Cancela
There are more jobs than workers.
Over the years (even moving beyond the pandemic), owners of audit and bookkeeping firms (including our Firm), have been struggling to search and retain qualified accountants and auditors. The shortage of accounting professionals for a majority of firms (especially small and medium-sized firms) may be attributable to factors, such as decrease in number of accounting graduates and CPA exam takers, fewer experienced accounting professionals available in the market, higher salary being offered by other industries, family and lifestyle considerations, accounting graduates and CPAs not pursuing public accounting but instead going directly into industry, and the perception that there is no work-life balance in public practice. Sadly, being unable to remain fully staffed may result in having the current manpower become overworked, and consequently leads to even fewer workforce.
Based on the recent Jobs and Labor Market Forecast 2022-2025 Preliminary Report by the Bureau of Local Employment, audit and accounting were considered as cross-cutting occupations. Cross-cutting occupations refer to occupations that can be classified as both in-demand and hard-to-fill when advertised or posted recurrently by industries and the recruitment process takes a certain period of time to hire suitable individual.
In the same report, it was also mentioned that there is an occupational shortage for accountants, meaning there have been a deficiency in the supply of qualified applicants compared with the number of jobs available. Globally, accounting and finance roles are one of the top 10 positions that are the hardest to fill. Indeed, recruitment and retention in the highly competitive staffing landscape is a challenge that needs to be addressed.
Improve hiring processes and practices
As mentioned, there is a very competitive staffing landscape, hence a comprehensive recruitment and retention plan must be in place to stay ahead of the others and ensure that the best audit staff is hired. An effective recruitment process must incorporate technology, recruitment analytics, and promotion of a safe and respectable work environment. It is important to optimize technology because it allows the firm to quickly identify and assess who are the best candidates and also enables to streamline and expedite the onboarding process using automated activities.
Recruitment analytics or data-driven approach is also a must because of its endless benefits which includes keeping track of high-potential candidates, creating a robust talent record of all candidates that you can consistently view if needed and predicting which candidates will be top performers and which ones may be bad hires. Recruitment analytics is a combination of data and predictive analysis or using historical data to make predictions about future hiring activities and candidates. Post-pandemic safety is still important to employees; hence firms should find ways to show them that they working in a safe environment. A psychologically safe environment is one in which employees feel comfortable, secure and at ease when it comes to both physical and emotional safety. A key feature of a safe work environment will be one that prioritizes and shines a spotlight on employees’ well-being.
Increase job satisfaction
If recruitment had been strenuous, staff retention is something that requires a lot of effort and consideration. Nowadays, aside from salaries, benefits and rewards, employees seek inclusion, culture and professional development.
Inclusion. The employees should be given opportunities to provide feedback or opinions to foster a sense of ownership over their jobs resulting to increased productivity and feeling of being valued by the firm.
Culture. Same is true with a culture that employees find fit to their needs. The firm’s culture must be clearly articulated to align with the employees’ values, beliefs, behaviors and experiences. Employees that do not connect well with the existing or desired company culture leads to poor quality of work and a potentially toxic environment. On the other hand, employees that fit well with the culture and share a strong belief in the values of the firm will most likely thrive.
Professional development. Giving employees professional development opportunities keep them engaged, which is very important, because disengaged and bored employees are twice as likely to leave. Growth and learning opportunities signal that the employer values their employees and are actively interested in their success.
In this modern global economy, employees are the ones who drive the success of companies. They want to work where they feel valued, where they can perform at their best, and where they enjoy spending time. Higher retention rates mean lesser recruitment, onboarding and other related costs. There’s no better time to take a minute to reflect, reset and change but now.
Cristina Joy D. Cancela, CPA, is a Senior Partner and Head of Operations of Paguio, Dumayas and Associates, CPAs (PDAC) and a member of PICPA.,
The views and opinions in this article are hers and do not represent those of PDAC and PICPA.
Source: Rising above the staffing challenge - Manila Bulletin