Here’s how small and medium-sized firms can attract and retain millennial talent.
What will the next generation working in finance and accounting want from their careers and employers, and what will it take to retain them? Rapid career development, lots of opportunities to learn, job security and flexibility, for starters.
Researchers from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the global body for professional accountants, sought to find these answers with a massive research project in 2016 (the Generation Next survey), surveying more than 18 600 participants between 16 and 36 years old (average age 27) from 150 countries.
“They are well equipped to deal with changes driven by globalization and technology because they deeply value the opportunity to learn and gain a breadth of experience in their current roles,” writes Ben Baruch, ACCA’s Head of SME Policy and lead author of the follow-up report.
In a subsequent report published in November 2017, ACCA narrowed the findings down to what this means for small and medium-sized practices (SMPs). Nearly 1 300 younger professionals who participated in the original Generation Next survey in 2016 were working in SMPs at the time, and their responses showed the following:
They view an SMP as a platform to build a successful long-term career, regarding finance experience as a valuable asset for future business leaders and entrepreneurs that can provide job security, especially in more unstable developing economies.
“There is high unemployment in our economy so competition for available jobs is common. A lot of young finance professionals are therefore becoming more entrepreneurial by necessity. Their training allows them to understand the fundamentals of business, which is a definite strength for setting up a small company and surviving,” says Bright Amisi, Managing Director of Avante Advisory Services Ltd and a member of ACCA’s Global SME Forum based in South Africa.
It’s not all about the money. Having a life outside the office is also paramount. Pay and career progression opportunities are important, but work-life balance and flexible working arrangements also scored well in the survey.
They move quickly between employers, but are “stickier” than Generation Next as a whole. SMP respondents spend longer in their roles at the outset of their careers than other millennials.
Yet they are looking for a way out in the longer term. To them working for an SMP is a springboard into other sectors.
The largest barriers to career progression in SMPs are a lack of available roles and pay restrictions.
They want mentors and on-the-job training. Learning works best when it is personal and practical — something the SMP sector is renowned for, given the broad exposure to clients and the subsequent need for soft skills, as well as tasking young professionals with a wide range of responsibilities while receiving guidance and oversight from more experienced staff.
Innovation through technology presents opportunities. The majority believe that technology will enable accounting and finance professionals to focus on higher value-added activity.
Recommendations for SMPs
Using these findings, ACCA conducted a series of interviews and roundtables with SMP employers globally on how to improve existing talent management strategies in the sector, leading to these recommendations:
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Create a compelling employee proposition to younger people and communicate it effectively. Actively sell your practice to younger people. Clearly define the mission, values and broader purpose of the business. Edward Fox, Global Head of Audit Quality at Grant Thornton International Ltd,
believes millennials seek purpose, and this presents a unique opportunity for the profession to connect to its wider social purpose.
Emphasise the potential benefits to their long-term career prospects. What can they gain by working for a smaller practice? A wider range of experiences than may be possible in larger firms, for one.
Reach out to younger people directly. Develop partnerships with local schools, colleges, and universities to showcase the value of a role in the SMP sector. Give talks and provide an internship programme through these channels. Advertise both training positions and permanent roles.
Become a registered training practice and invest in further formal development. Up to 94% of respondents are attracted to an employer by the opportunity to learn and develop new skills.
Implement tailored development plans for individuals that consider their specific long-term career aspirations and short-term development objectives. Line managers should have regular honest career conversations with junior staff to assess whether they are meeting their objectives or require any further support to do so.
Rotate employees with other practices to broaden their exposure. Some practices have established workplace employee rotation schemes with both other SMPs and mid-tier firms, which allows staff to obtain experience in areas that their employer practice doesn’t cover and opportunities that are not available in-house.
Introduce reverse mentoring. Millennials often enter the workplace with a host of valuable skills, such as a greater awareness of the latest technology and social media trends. Create reverse mentoring schemes where this knowledge can be shared through internal training activities. Not only will more senior staff gain valuable skills — this could also help build relationships among co-workers and strengthen the younger professional’s sense of value to the firm.
Encourage “intrapreneurialism.” Most younger professionals working for SMPs said they intend to eventually start their own business. Many view SMPs as a good training ground to develop entrepreneurial skills.
Through “intrapreneurship” millennials use their entrepreneurial skills while benefiting from the resources, capabilities and security of the current organisation, and learning from possible failures without the personal risks that entrepreneurship entails.
Focus on creating the right behaviours, especially ‘soft skills’ such as communication, marketing and client management.
Create collaborative, social working environments. The values of younger people are also changing, with long hours and rigid job responsibilities falling out of favour, while relationships and flexibility are increasingly important. According to Fox, millennials work better in a flat hierarchy and like to be part of decision-making, an approach which can lead to a more creative, positive work environment.
Encouragingly, ACCA’s research shows that the SMP working environment is a key selling point for Generation Next, especially the close relationships that can be formed with line managers, colleagues and partners, contributing to overall job satisfaction.
SMPs could strengthen this culture by creating more opportunities for staff to socialise outside of the workplace.
Channels through which staff can raise issues relating to their work well-being, working relationships and office environment can also prove a worthwhile endeavour.
Embrace technology to aid future development. Technology has huge implications for the future of client services across the SMP sector. Many activities regularly conducted by SMPs have already become reliant on technology.
Younger professionals need to be prepared for driving innovation in the sector, and should therefore be trained to use relevant technologies efficiently.
