5 reasons you should be doing more to leverage tech to win the talent wars

That a "war for talent" continues to rage within the accounting and tax industry may not be "new" news, nor should it be a surprise. 

However, research indicates that the war for talent isn't just a short-term challenge; it's one that's here to stay. For example, in the 2022 Wolters Kluwer Accounting Industry Survey, "finding and retaining talent" ranked as the No. 5 challenge firms face overall – but it was the No. 1 challenge facing large firms with 50+ employees. Likewise, recent AICPA survey data predicts that finding and retaining talent is likely to continue to be a challenge for at least the next five years — given that the number of candidates sitting for the CPA exam dropped 33% between 2016 and 2022. 

During our 2022 Wolters Kluwer User Conference in Tampa, Florida, I shared preliminary results from our annual industry survey, which provides new insight into how technology is impacting firms' ability to recruit, retain and engage talent, today and in the future. Here are some key highlights.

1. The data is clear: Technology is key to increasing revenue and delivering more services, even as firms battle a tight labor market.

Respondents to the Wolters Kluwer survey reported that in addition to recruiting and retaining talent, late and unprepared clients, keeping track of legislative changes, working with IRS, and servicing clients effectively were among their other top challenges. And firms across the board said their top two goals for the coming year were to grow revenue and strengthen customer engagement. The good news is that cloud-based, integrated technology is already helping firms of all sizes improve efficiencies, better service clients, deliver more services, and feel more confident about their ability to manage the pace of change. The Wolters Kluwer survey found that:

• Compared to traditional firms, 81% of firms that use cloud-based firm management technologies reported higher revenue growth and profitability.
• Firms using cloud-based tax compliance solutions experienced the highest growth.
• Firms that were early adopters of cloud-based technology were 13% more likely to add new services.
• 85% of all firms surveyed felt that technology is helping them improve average client response time.

The takeaway? Data is already pointing to cloud-based tech as a big part of the solution to many of our industry's most significant challenges and opportunities — even though we've been experiencing a particularly tight talent market for a number of years.
2. Freeing up staff from the drudgery of low-value, mundane, repetitive tasks is a fundamental building block of employee engagement, especially with Gen Z and millennials.

While recruiting and retaining talent may be a heightened challenge within our industry, it's important to remember that companies across industries are now reporting a less engaged and more burned-out workforce. 

A recent Gallup survey found that only 32% of employees are fully engaged, 18% are actively disengaged, and the remaining 50% characterize themselves as being "not actively engaged." 

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data tells us that productivity has taken a nosedive, too, across sectors, plunging more in the first six months of 2022 than it has since the BLS started tracking productivity in 1947.

The 2022 Deloitte Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey found that stress and burnout levels among these two generations, which together comprise the largest percentage of today's workforce, are high. Nearly 44% of Gen Z and 43% of millennials, across industries, said peers left their employers in the past year due to high workload pressure.

And one of Deloitte's key 2022 recommendations to employers who want to recruit and retain Gen Z and millennial employees was to "listen to their people and empower them to drive change."

In my experience, nothing can de-motivate and burn out a highly skilled employee more than populating their workday with an abundance of mundane, repetitive tasks that can be automated. Advances in firm management technology are already helping our industry move away from manual data entry tasks so they can focus on  the more mentally engaging, satisfying work, like expanding client offerings or delivering advisory services. In fact: 

• 77% of Wolters Kluwer survey respondents said technology is helping them reduce the number of hours worked, per client and per return.
• 64% of Wolters Kluwer survey respondents report the implementation of integrated technology helped them to improve staff engagement and morale. 

3. Forward-thinking firms are leveraging technology to empower employees to work at the top of their license, make informed decisions, and add value for clients.

If you want to retain your best employees, you need to do more than free up their time; you also need to give them opportunities to expand their skill sets and work at the top of their license. The good news is those needs align perfectly with what 80+% of firms tell us their clients want: consulting and advisory services, rather than just commoditized ones. More good news? Our Wolters Kluwer survey found that 78% of respondents are already leveraging technology to help employees expand skill sets. 

Case in point? Our Wolters Kluwer survey tells us that keeping abreast of and responding to constantly evolving federal and state legislative changes was among the top three challenges firms face. For employees who serve clients in multiple states, keeping up with evolving tax codes can feel like a full-time job. At our 2022 User Conference, we introduced technology enhancements that turn that challenge into an opportunity by proactively notifying firm employees when specific clients have been impacted by a state or federal tax change. Tax professionals can then focus their time and expertise on the more rewarding work of strengthening client relationships and expanding revenue — by advising clients how to best address the evolving tax code changes that are most likely to impact them. It's precisely this kind of integrated, cloud-based technology that can help firms win the talent wars by empowering employees to deliver high-value advisory services clients need.

4. Your employees and your clients are also connected consumers; they expect a frictionless collaboration experience.

Investments in improving the customer experience aren't just helping firms recruit and retain clients — they can help recruit and retain employees, too. We can often think of employees and clients as different audiences with very different needs — but that's not always the case. One thing your customers and your employees have in common? Regardless of what generation they're in, they're likely to be fully connected consumers — who are accustomed, in their personal lives, to intuitive, integrated online experiences to help them do everything from grocery shopping to banking to managing their own health. They expect a frictionless experience when working for and with your firm, too. That's why it's so important to implement innovative, cloud-based workflow tools, which serve as a digital front door to your firm, enabling your employees and your clients to seamlessly collect, anytime and anywhere, so they can share information, communicate, and know exactly what steps need to be completed, by when and by whom.

5. Technology is a big part of the solution, but too many firms aren't using it to its full potential.

A fully leveraged, integrated tech stack is a transformational weapon that helps you win the talent war, strengthen client relationships, and free up staff time to expand your firm's revenue. Yet less than 16% of firms feel they are fully utilizing their tech stack. That's why it's key to connect with your firm's technology providers to make the most of training and other tools that empower your staff to get the full benefits of the technologies you've already invested in. If leveraged well, those types of tech training opportunities can also help you retain your best employees, by providing them with the chance to expand their knowledge base and drive meaningful, positive change in your firm.