It's not the great resignation, it's a mighty migration

October 7, 2021 12:25 PM

Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index claims that 41% of the global workforce is likely to consider leaving their current employer within the next year, and 49% of those plan to make a major career pivot.

This was brought home most fully at an accounting event last month. There, a partner at a U.S firm talked about how in the weeks following the 2020 filing deadlines early this summer, his firm was hit with a mass departure including many managers. Had they waited a few more weeks, they would not have passed on their big bonuses — tens of thousands of dollars, in some cases. When the firm looked into where those employees went, they discovered in many cases it was not to another firm, but rather to start a business, join a tech startup or just take an extended break to travel.

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Why accounting?

Statistically, the field of accounting has always been a revolving door. The restlessness the working world is experiencing right now is not new to accounting. But despite the creative tactics we see reported to avoid employee departure — I heard one major firm even started offering pet insurance to their staff — this year’s apparent increased exodus for accounting is shocking.

Why is the field of accounting being hit so particularly hard? And beyond the steps of training, promotions, bonuses, celebrations, and perks, what can we change?

It’s not a resignation, it’s a migration

This is a giant shift in understanding. A resignation has two meanings: One, leaving a significant role (we don’t usually “resign” from being a first-year reviewer), and two, giving up. This term seems to apply more to the exodus of front-line health providers, weary of the COVID battleground and even in fear of their lives. It is perhaps indicative of many corporate workers who’ve grown beyond weary of the strife of managing the commute, the childcare, and the hidden and evident costs of supporting a 40-hour (or more) workweek.

What we’re hearing from the accounting firms and leaders we work with is an entirely different phenomenon. Those leaving firms in large numbers are not giving up, but rather they are proactively leaning into something they define as better. It’s a migration, and, in actuality, a “Mighty Migration” of strong and capable individuals, propelled by some predictable things I can share.

In order of least to most influential, here’s what we’re observing:

Politics

Some employees and leaders thrive on politics and even relish the conflict itself. Often, they perpetuate conflict simply to stand back and make decisions based on who wins or look for cracks they can climb through to end up higher in the organization. A modern-day “gladiator contest” is a way to wake people up, propel them out of their comfort zones, and provide entertainment difficult to look away from.

“You don’t like politics because you’re not good at it,” a senior executive (highly political himself) remarked to another. He was right. But ultimately, an environment of perpetual conflict does perhaps more than anything else to compel sharp people to leave. They haven’t given up – they’ve elected to place themselves in an environment better aligned to their sensibilities that allows them both to breathe and thrive.

Cultural misalignment

An accounting practitioner who finds themselves out of step with the personalities and culture around them will move to greener pastures or into the opportunities they will create of their own. Ideally, your firm should allow for a variety of personalities and working styles. Of course, the workflow and deliverables must adhere to consistent rules, but if everyone in your organization is required to walk, talk and look alike, you can expect the regular exit of many who could have been your firm’s greatest assets over time.

Lack of flexibility

In a similar vein, you should strive to create a culture that fosters creativity and autonomy (within acceptable boundaries, of course) to allow a richness of ideas to flow to the top, for the benefit of many. For example, as practitioners learn to rise as trusted advisors, what ideas and resources could benefit others in the organization as well? What are the ways to support clients as a value-add instead of feeling like the drops of juice squeezed out of a corporate template?

This facet applies to your technology decisions as well.

You should also make your technology as dynamic and flexible as you possibly can. Also worth noting, that a lack of sufficient technology, or a tendency to over-promise (this will solve everything) and underdeliver on the tools you provide is a key source of dissatisfaction that propels employees to move.

Lack of vision leadership

Interestingly, one of the most effective CEOs we know rose through the ranks of accounting to become the president of a 23-year-old bank. By personality, he’s a “people person” with the kind of vibrancy that inspires his team and suppliers to rise to higher ideals, behaviors, and contributions.

This professional accountant has become a visionary leader that has united his team in a sense of mission around service for customers is formalized and measured in employee surveys and NPS scores. In the past five years, both measures have nearly doubled. Perhaps not surprisingly, the organization’s revenue doubled as well.

Lack of experienced management leadership

The concept of “listening,” serving, and supporting the firm’s stakeholders goes by many names. We at Avii call it Accounting Experience Management. It means listening keenly at all levels — clients, practitioners, and managers — to understand how they are feeling and how enriched and happy they are, and to take proactive action on the things we may learn. How much positivity are they feeling? Are they excited about their future with you, or are they merely enduring the status quo, or even repelled by aspects of what they’re experiencing? Be mindful of their experience at every step and leverage actionable data analysis to drive improvements to policies, approaches, and resulting experiences.

As you progress, you can measure their engagement in several ways. One is surveys that ask questions about whether your firm is one they’d recommend unreservedly to friends and family as an organization you should work with or work within. Another is to identify and assess your Net Promoter Score (NPS) as a literal measure. It’s interesting to note the trajectory of improvement or change and observe the results for businesses in every sector. The higher the NPS score, the higher the propensity for employee (and customer) retention. Finally, your revenue.

Interestingly, as experience management improves, revenue tends to rise in proportion. Unlike the age-old motto in the technology world that notes “revenue can hide an abundance of sins,” attention to experience management can tie the zest, the joy, and the unexpected value and benefits that fill your customers and teams with surprise and delight.

How has your own firm fared in the midst of the Mighty Migration? Granted, there are pervasive trends in the national and the global economy and in society’s culture that will continue to make change management a constant condition for all. But if you look and listen closely to the reasons so many accountants are transitioning and leaving, you can create an environment that allows your best people to find their zest and purpose within your organization and to join with you in allowing your business to rise.