Make the employee experience more engaging, more inviting, and more inclusive.
How? That’s one of the most interesting puzzles to solve for accounting firms that need to attract more accountants and encourage them to stay.
It’s also one of the key recommendations that the National Pipeline Advisory Group brought up, after nearly a year of looking for solutions to the accounting talent crisis in the U.S. as well as “the market, where it’s headed, where things are happening globally, and what’s happening in other professions.”
From “Fixing the Pipeline Problem” in Accounting Today, 17 June 2024.
This is so encouraging, it’s worth repeating: “You have all these options.”
Paying attention to the employee experience is a priority for us at TOA Global. Beyond finding and hiring experienced accountants for innovative firms, our accounting outsourcing services include training, professional development, and engagement—making sure that all team members understand and benefit from all the options open to them.
In May, the engagement initiatives organized for more than 3,800 team members highlighted the themes of motherhood, wellbeing, and diversity.
One of the learning opportunities was a short online module (about 30 minutes) about diversity, equality, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) principles.
Here’s why. For Gen Z (1996-2010), compensation remains the most important factor for choosing an employer or staying in a company. But about half of Gen Z respondents also told the U.S. career community Handshake that they would leave if their employer fell short of their expectations for diversity and equality.
Accounting outsourcing services that support wellbeing
Ahead of Mother’s Day celebrations, our People Experience Team hosted a webinar on May 10 – “How to Mother + Debunking Myths on Motherhood”.
TOA Global also released an updated Maternity Benefits Employee Guide on May 6, with a checklist, links to required forms, and communication tips so that expectant team members or those planning to start a family soon will get the guidance and support they need.
In addition to the engagement initiatives for the team, two learning sessions took place ahead of the first weekend of May 2024. These sessions take place once a month to support the team’s progress through their professional development plans or TOA Learning Pathways.
The sessions for May were:
A webinar on May 3 for the Australia and New Zealand Team: Depreciation on Assets (with 60 participants, who gave the session a 93% rating).
A webinar on May 3 for the North America Team: U.S. Tax Series: Property Depreciation (with 115 participants, who gave this a 100% rating).
Making sure that team members get clear learning pathways is one of the lessons we’ve learned from more than 10 years of helping accounting firms offshore successfully.
Watch this on-demand webinar, Introduction to Offshoring for Accounting Firms, to protect your firm from the avoidable missteps other accounting firms have made when offshoring.
Helping you create a great employee experience
May was also the first full month of friendly competitions in the annual sportsfest, one of the team’s most anticipated events.
With 846 individuals participating, League of TOA Legends created plenty of opportunities for team members to hone their teamwork and communication skills, find colleagues who share their interests, and simply unwind.
We do our best to make sure that engagement initiatives like the annual sportsfest are optional and meet the team’s needs for a great employee experience—without getting in the way of important work that needs to be done. Games take place after shift, for example.
It’s been so rewarding to see the team enjoy themselves in their badminton, basketball, Mobile Legends, and volleyball matches, in addition to five other sports disciplines in this year’s sportsfest.
One of the many benefits of offshoring, especially when your provider specialises in the accounting industry, is that you get to see accountants grow both onshore and offshore.
One of our Australian clients, for example, came to TOA Global because they were finding it a challenge to attract graduates when competing with Big Four firms. (This is a challenge many firms know well.)
Yet when they built an offshore team with TOA Global, they gained the additional capacity to operate as a full-service firm, with more services to meet their clients’ evolving needs.
And they found opportunities for both their onshore and offshore employees to stay engaged, update their skills, and grow with the business. Read their story here.
Since 2013, TOA Global has hired more than 3,800 accountants, bookkeepers, and other professionals, who continue to help 1,100+ international clients achieve their growth goals.
We can introduce your firm to job-ready accountants who are available to start immediately. Or you can ask us about accounting outsourcing services today.
