Our recent Managing Partner / CEO Thinktank, run in partnership with Foulger Underwood sparked some interesting debate on the RESOURCING challenges many Professional Service Firms are facing. We have captured some of our thoughts in the video, including:

🌟can we change the current operating model?
🌟what are we doing to build the employee value proposition?
🌟what are we doing now to EFFECTIVELY develop talent?

We also covered some of the regular topics during the call:

Polls – our monthly polls showed the following:

• Confidence in economic outlook in 2021 – this month the majority felt ‘more optimistic’.
• What movement in fees are your expecting in 2021? The majority felt a small rise of 5% or more was expected. This has been higher than before.
• How will profit share/ EBITDA be affected?  ¼ of the respondees noted a small increase whilst the majority said it would remain about the same

Back to the office

The majority of Practices now had individuals working back in the office for a few days per week. Things appear to be getting back to ‘normal’ working practices, albeit slowly.  Individuals were back in with either their team, managers, peers, trainees etc and were staying within those groups for now.

Some Partners mentioned that for some it was taking time to get to know each other again and to work side by side with others. Those who wished to be in 100% of the time had been welcomed for the benefit of their own wellbeing.

It was noted that blended and agile working styles hved become common across industry groups and needed an open mind and definite plan. A written plan was preferable so all can read and understand. Clear guidance on not only working practices for the benefit of the employees needed to be outlined (eg. client meetings at their offices) but also situations such as positive covid tests at the office and how to get people home, non-vacs, on-site lateral flow tests and time off to be vaccinated.

Recruitment

Recruitment was now seen as the biggest impediment to growth, by many.

WFH and WFO were being evaluated now in recruitment needs and overall resource planning. As well as being a flexible employer, it needed to be recognised that resourcing needed to work for the business itself.

Many firms have resourcing issues and this problem is magnified by an extremely competitive recruitment market. The number of job vacancies in the Accounting sector is now above the pre-pandemic level.

Is flexible working more important now, than £?

A key challenge is building a strong employee value proposition to stand out from the crowd, being clear on purpose and cause, demonstrating  flexible working policies and investment in personal development etc

Retention

This is seen as even more important than recruitment and is under managed. A solid retention policy will enable the attraction of candidates, reduce leavers, reduce time to hire and make you an employer of choice.

Linked to brand, mission and vision – and the importance of them all, some statistics were shared:

• 80% of people prefer to work for a company with a culture that matches their own.
• 70% of candidates would consider a lower paid job if it looked enjoyable and more fulfilling

Our next call is on Thursday 20^th May at 1pm

Please email paul@thegrogroup.com if you would like to be added to the monthly calls, or if you would like to discuss any challenges around people development or creating a connection between the firm and people please get in touch.