The Secret To Retaining Your Firm's Top Professionals: Make Sure Working Elsewhere Won't Be More...

Q: We pay our people very competitive salaries, provide great benefits, offer flexible work arrangements and alternate career paths, but our turnover rate is still too high - well over 20%. What else can we possibly do to keep our professionals from leaving?

A: Remember that there's a value proposition between employers and employees. The value proposition is what the firm offers to its staff in exchange for the staffs effort and commitment. If your firm is having a problem with staff retention, you should define the value of working at your firm versus the value of working somewhere else from the employee's perspective. To have outstanding staff retention, your goal should be to provide, as an employer, a distinctive and compelling value proposition for employees that's noticeably different from your competitors' and tailored to key talent segments. That value proposition will act like a magnet in attracting and retaining great talent. The value that your firm offers as an employer must be greater than the value another employer offers.

Q: We lose lots of people not to other accounting firms, but to companies in our area. How can we compete with businesses that don't have demanding clients and busy seasons?

A: Practically every business has tough clients, and many have seasonal demands. Accounting firnis can still be employers of choice, but to do so, they must maximize the value they offer as an employer. There are five components to a staff value proposition:

1. Meaningful work: Do I have meaningful work and a meaningful role here, and does the job connect with what I really want to do?

2. Affiliation: Can I identify with the organization? Do I share the values of the leaders and want to be like them? Am I proud to work for the firm? Do I have friends and mentors at work whom I don't want to leave? How comfortable am I with the firm's culture?

3. Growth and development: Do I perceive opportunity for advancement and receive meaningful coaching, training, and mentoring? What is my perception of work/life balance and job security?

4. Non-financial rewards: Am I recognized for effort and achievement? Do I receive feedback and positive reinforcement regularly? Does the job include interesting or convenient perquisites?

5. True financial rewards: Do I perceive my salary, benefits, bonuses, cash recognition and my ownership opportunity to be both competitive and fair?

Each of these factors is unique, but they work together like a puzzle. The better they're integrated, the stronger the pull is to your firm as an employer, which raises the "exit price" of your firm's professionals.

Q: What is an "exit price?"

A: An employee's exit price is the amount of money and intangibles required to entice the employee to leave the firm and go elsewhere. Numbers 1 through 4 above are forms of "psychic income" - they're not true financial rewards, but they offer tremendous value to the employee. The employer trying to lure your employee away must be able to not only provide better value in terms of true financial rewards; they also must provide "psychic income" that exceeds what the employee receives at your firm. The value of financial and psychic rewards that an employee must have to leave your firm is that employee's exit price. Firms have the greatest opportunity to raise the exit price by focusing on and enhancing psychic income.

Q: How can we raise our employees' exit price?

A: Diagnose and define your staff value proposition, either formally or informally. Identify gaps and address them. Most firms find that the greatest gaps lie in the area of psychic income. Integrate the staff value proposition into current talent management processes and decisions, such as staff selection, development and succession. Be sure that partners and other leaders support the staff value proposition through what they say and do, and measure that alignment. Partners are essential to providing psychic income in their words and deeds. Also, remember that staff retention is a game of inches, so don't expect to see a drastic turnaround immediately. Be diligent and proactive in what you're doing, but realize that it may take a series of first downs to reach the goal. Significant changes in culture and value propositions take time.

Q: We have a few key professionals with unique skills and attributes whom we can't afford to lose. How can we ensure they stay?

A: It's especially important to target your staff value proposition to your stars. The stars are at the top of your profit chain: great people make a great firm, which attracts and grows great clients and creates a great bottom line. Your stars are the people who are committed, engaged, happy, work well with clients, and sell your firm. Here's an exercise we recommend: Based on your knowledge and understanding of these people, estimate the exit price for each one in terms of financial and psychic income. Note any special issues or interests that any of them may have. State what you think your firm provides in psychic income, and estimate their exit price. This exercise should reveal some of your firm's vulnerabilities about retaining these people. Keep in mind that this is simply an exercise. You don't need a scientific answer. The goal is to explore the possibilities and discover points to discuss and address with these people. Too often firms assume that high performers know their value to the firm and direct their energy toward the low performers. That's a mistake. Re-recruit your stars each day just like you do with your most valuable clients.

Brown and Porter can be reached at (317) 892-2721; www.aspire-peregrine.com.