As a leader in your firm, chances are you've experienced the tricky balance of managing capacity. Growing the firm is essential to success, but when new clients, services and projects overtake your team's bandwidth, keeping up with demand without burning people out is challenging.
Sure, one option is hiring additional staff to help support the workload. However, as just about every firm has discovered over the past few years, it's not always possible to hire additional staff — even if it is financially feasible.
That's why exploring non-hiring solutions to your capacity woes is crucial. So let's dive deeper into exactly what those options could look like.
Why hiring isn't the answer
The accounting profession faces a significant talent shortage, and the underlying causes are multifaceted. To start, there's a pipeline problem. There aren't enough accounting students to fill the vacancies left by retiring Baby Boomers and people exiting the profession due to burnout.
At the same time, competition for top talent is fierce. As a result, accounting firms are increasingly looking beyond their immediate area to find candidates with the right skills — making hiring even more of a challenge than it already was.
Fortunately, non-hiring solutions can help you overcome capacity issues without adding headcount.
1. Efficient and effective processes. Efficient and effective processes are the first step in addressing capacity issues. By streamlining your firm's processes, you can ensure your team can efficiently complete their work. This can help alleviate stress on your team and allow them to take on more work without overworking themselves.
2. Technology and automation. The next step in addressing your capacity issues is technology and automation. Robotic process automation can help streamline many manual, repetitive processes, eliminating routine tasks that take up valuable time.
Many firms make the mistake of jumping right into technology to answer their capacity problems. However, it's essential to start with your firm's processes — or at least address process and technology in tandem. Without a strategy in place for streamlining procedures, it simply isn't possible to automate inconsistent processes. Automation can be incredibly useful in achieving higher levels of efficiency, but if your underlying processes aren't consistent and reliable, it won't make much of a difference.
3. Outsourcing and partnerships. There are some tasks you can't automate (at least not yet), and outsourcing and partnerships with other firms or service providers can help you handle these tasks to free up capacity. Depending on your needs, this could include anything from IT support and content creation to tax preparation and client accounting services.
To be successful with outsourcing and strategic partnerships, you must have efficient processes and the right technology in place. Without these in place, outsourcing services can quickly become inefficient and costly.
4. Non-traditional hires. Non-traditional hires and flexible staffing can also help alleviate some of the burdens on your team. This includes recruiting part-time or contract staff for specific tasks or projects, allowing you to scale up or down as needed without committing to a long-term hire. This is a great way to address short-term capacity issues without creating an additional financial burden. Remember, you don't need to hire accountants for every role — other skills and experiences can provide many benefits. For example, if you focus on serving clients in construction, someone with a background in that industry can bring a lot of value to your consulting and advisory practice, even if they've never taken an accounting course.
While we'd all like to be able to go out to the workforce and find the exact right fit for every need in the firm, it's simply not always an option. Taking the time to explore efficient and effective processes, leveraging technology, outsourcing and tapping non-traditional hires can all help alleviate the burden on your team, resulting in improved employee and client experiences.
By taking a proactive approach to solving the problem, your firm can stay competitive and maximize its resources.
