BLOCKING THE EXITS.

• Author: MASON, LAURIE
• Position: Keeping your best employees - Statistical Data Included

KEYS TO Retaining Employees IN CALIFORNIA'S UNPARALLELED JOB MARKET

It's a tough market these days if you're looking to hire and retain top accounting employees. California's unemployment rate is at 4.8 percent--the lowest since 1969. The outlook for this job-seeker's market intensifies when you add the lure of stock options and instant riches that Silicon Valley startups dangle in front of candidates' noses, along with the practice of "poaching" whereby headhunters tempt employees away from jobs they might not otherwise consider leaving. This article explores what some accounting firms are doing--beyond offering a competitive salary and benefits package--to keep their best and brightest from clamoring for the exit door, while encouraging opportunities and growth.

Some practices represent a big change from the way things were done in the accounting profession as recently as 10 and 15 years ago. Then, new staff at Big Five firms were expected to log as many as 2,400 billable hours annually, with little beyond a solid salary and benefits package as remuneration. "Now that's looked at as absurd by many employees," says Human Resources committee chair Kimberly Roush, a manager in KPMG's information risk management group.

Notes Paul McDonald, western district director of Robert Half International, which specializes in accounting, financial and information systems staffing: "It's very much a candidate-driven marketplace. Employers have to strategize harder to keep good employees." The following tips will give you a benchmark against which to gauge your own company's offerings.

ADVANCE CAREERS

When asked what a firm must provide for top-quality employees to keep them around, McDonald said career advancement is probably the most important. "As they move up, benefits become less important," he says. "A top salary, health and vacation are a given. What people want is a voice in helping guide the corporation. So, authority."

You must constantly examine the avenues that you can reasonably provide employees given your firm's size and scope. This goes for public accounting firms as well as for CPAs working in industry. Says McDonald, "As a CFO of a corporation, you have to look and think ahead, asking yourself, 'What are the paths that I can create?' If someone wants an advancement, you should know prior to their asking where they can channel their human resources."

It's a fact of the profession that many young accountants hire on to get their audit hours, sit for their CPA exam and then leave. But you don't have to watch helplessly as they walk out the door. Finding out what they want to do, and having the flexibility to train and transfer them to a different area within your company is a good way to hang on to top workers. "Maybe auditing isn't their thing," says Roush. "But there are so many different areas in large...