Accounting is one of the most competitive arenas of today’s professional services market. Firms of all kinds are offering similar packages to help clients achieve their needs. One of the best ways to stand out from the crowd is hiring and retaining skilled, engaged team members that your clients appreciate and trust.
The way your firm incorporates technology can have a significant impact on employee engagement. Used properly, technology can make your team more efficient, better at communicating, and happier to do their jobs each day. Below are five specific ways that tech can have a positive outcome on your employees:
In these uncertain economic times, many firms are dealing with tightened budgets. Even if you don’t have a huge budget for gifts or financial rewards for high-performing employees, you can use technology to show your appreciation. Something as simple as a team-wide email or message on a chat platform can go a long way in promoting good feelings among your staff.
Other internal management systems have built-in methods to offer customized awards that recognize top performers. Studies show that recognition in the workplace not only boosts individual engagement, but increases loyalty and productivity across the entire staff.
Few sectors are moving faster than the world of business technology. There will likely come a time when your firm needs to incorporate a new technology system for project management or another key area of your operations.
When these situations arise, why not give your team input on tech upgrades? The act of asking for input alone will show employees that their perspectives matter to firm leadership. And since they are the ones working with new software tools on a day-to-day basis, their opinions may provide a more complete picture of your firm’s needs than you would have had otherwise. Whether or not you decide to implement the technology your team members favor, listening to them about the decision will provide a boost to employee engagement.
The right technology can not only make an accounting firm efficient, but add flexibility to the ways work gets done. For example, say you need to implement a new system for client collaboration. The differences in communication preferences across generations of employees have been well-documented – workers from the Boomer generation often prefer phone calls, while younger generations like instant, digital communication.
Technology can provide a platform flexible enough to accommodate multiple options for your staff to get work done. Giving your team choices about how they complete tasks is an excellent way to not only improve engagement, but make your operations more efficient: everyone is better at working in ways they’re more comfortable with.
One of the most important aspects of employee engagement is the opportunity for professional advancement. According to data published by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, nearly 70% of workers believe employer-provided upskilling is crucial when considering a new job, and 48% said they would switch to a new job for better skills training opportunities.
Technology has made education more accessible than ever before, including professional development. For example, there are many platforms for online learning that offer commercial licenses for groups of employees. If you have the bandwidth, you might even consider using existing technology to start your own learning modules, even if it’s informal.
A common challenge for accounting firm employees is having to spend an excessive amount of time switching back and forth from one platform to the next. A typical firm might have one software tool for time and billing, one for internal communication, one for document management, and so on.
With the right technology – like a comprehensive accounting practice management platform – you can avoid these issues, allowing your team to get things done more efficiently without the time and energy drain of switching back and forth from different tools. When your firm’s staff can get the same amount of work done in less time, it improves their attitudes about their jobs, makes them more appreciative of leadership, and ultimately makes the entire organization more effective at achieving its goal of providing the best quality service to every client.
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