Editor's Note: This the first in a three-part series on how purpose can help the accounting profession gain and retain talent by Go Beyond Chief Purpose Officer Greg Sloan. The former financial advisor now advises CPAs on finding purpose in the workplace, their profession and overall firms on how to empower their employees to find purpose as a critical retention and performance approach.
Every organization needs to reassess its business strategy as it grows. As we have seen with the pandemic, change happens whether we like it or not. The accounting industry was hit particularly hard by the “Great Resignation,” or as we more accurately call it, “the Great Realignment.” Not only did it strain current employee workloads, but also placed an increase in financial reporting risks due to an accountant shortage.
So why is the accounting sector taking such a hard hit on hiring and retention? Similar to many industries, it takes time to increase the talent pool with experienced and credentialed professionals. These are challenges unique to the accounting industry. We can’t afford to lose more financial talent as there is not enough time to train and prepare solid replacements. Thus, the answer lies in attraction and retention.
The Illinois CPA Society cited the workload time for studying to pass the CPA exam as the greatest challenge.
A Solution to Talent Attraction + Retention
To attract and retain talent, business leaders could greatly benefit from a deep dive into their Company Purpose. Creating a new slogan or tagline is not enough—it must be an organizational-wide effort. Companies with generic mission/vision statements are a “dime a dozen,” while purpose-driven companies stand out.
The Drum suggests that brand purpose needs to be the driving force behind everything that a company does. But there’s still a disconnect here—a PwC report showed that business leaders prioritize the commercial value of purpose.
Purpose for workers is how their contributions make a positive impact on both the company and the greater society. It is “their stake” in how they help people (our customers and clients). A worker who knows their Personal Purpose will increase their engagement and sense of fulfillment.
70% of the employees surveyed said that their sense of purpose is largely defined by work.
In a Mckinsey & Company study, 70% of the employees surveyed said that their sense of purpose is largely defined by work. Thus, purpose and fulfillment go hand in hand.
Accounting, tax, and financial management professionals are well aware of pivoting to serve clients and customers best. By redirecting our analytical minds from finances to the function of our businesses, we can efficiently define our purposes.
I can speak from experience. Being a financial advisor and later VP at Goldman Sachs, I worked my way up and was deeply ingrained in the financial sector. Serving 75-plus senior-level executives as a personal CFO kept my focus on tax planning and compliance.
Like many of you, this helped me become a well-versed professional. But something was missing. I didn’t realize what it was until I had to ask some tough questions, the “why” of what I did.
I Found My Purpose and You Can, too
A distinctive story I enjoy telling from my career was when I sat down with a key worker. She was about to get two years under her belt at the company and was a rock star. So I had planned to offer her a promotion.
Naturally, it came with a substantial raise to retain our best talent. Before I had given her the great news, she said, “Stop… I’m quitting.”
Looking at the workforce with a strictly mechanical mind leads us to miss the deeper meaning of why we lose talent. The problem wasn’t the raise or promotion but a lack of purpose alignment.
This worker needed to find an organization whose Company Purpose aligned with her Personal purpose. I, too, felt unfulfilled in my work as I reassessed the why in my career. Luckily, asking those “why questions” led me down a beautiful journey of discovering my Personal Purpose (read to the end to find out what it is).
The primary source of company culture comes from a shared Purpose
The primary source of company culture comes from a shared purpose—workers’ Personal Purpose that aligns with the Company Purpose. This is why it’s crucial to clearly define a Company Purpose. Businesses will be more likely to attract and retain talent when their company culture is rooted in purpose.
To learn how to cultivate a company culture of purpose, read our next installment in this series on Insightful Accountant, “How to Cultivate a Culture of Purpose Throughout the Worker Experience.”
Greg Sloan is Chief Purpose Officer at Go Beyond, which supports leaders of organizations to help their workers find their Personal Purpose. He started his journey as a financial advisor in 1995. Feeling unfulfilled, he went on his Purpose Journey, discovering that his Personal Purpose is to help creative leaders figure out how to leave a mark.
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