Keeping virtual tax teams connected.
Author | Frank, Charlotte |
Staff who work remotely are a fact of life in today's business world. It is essential that systems and technology work well for those outside the office as well as those working in the office.
In today's world, a tax professional's workplace can be anywhere, not just at the CPA firm's physical office. This is not a new phenomenon. Tax professionals have been working away from the office at their homes, client sites, and other places for years. The bar has now risen, though, for keeping virtual tax employees feeling connected and just as much a part of the team as those who are in the office. Furthermore, it is in the best interests of both the CPA firm and the virtual tax employees to continue to strive for and achieve high productivity levels, even though all team members are not physically working in the same location. Tax practice leaders and office managers are, therefore, talking not only about their tax return and provision software but are also talking about the technology tools that they are using to manage their virtual tax teams.
Which CPA Firms Are Affected Most
Virtual tax teams are not a key consideration for only larger CPA firms. All CPA firms--whether small, midsize, or large--should expect to experience, if they are not already, an increasing number of tax employees performing at least some of their work remotely. Desire for greater workplace flexibility across the generations, especially with Millennials, and challenges finding qualified tax talent are two primary reasons for the rising prevalence of virtual tax employees.
In many recent studies, workplace flexibility is identified as a strong contributor to employee job satisfaction, stress reduction, and overall retention (see SHRM Foundation, Leveraging Workplace Flexibility for Engagement and Productivity (2014), available at tinyurl. Com/jcty6pf; EY, Global Generations: A Global Study on Work-Life Challenges Across Generations (2015), available at tinyurl.com/gsftgap). Workplace flexibility refers to the time, location, and manner in which an employee works (Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College, Focus on Workplace Flexibility, available at workplaceflexlblllty.bc.edu). As Millennials (19--35-year-olds in 2016) are now the largest share of the American workforce, slightly exceeding Generation X, according to 2015 Pew Research data (Pew Research Center tabulations of monthly 1995-2015 Current Population Surveys, Integrated Public Use Microdata Series), they are bringing new perspectives regarding the relationship between their work and their personal lives, which is also reshaping the mindsets of some in other generations in the workforce.
At CPA firms, Millennials are challenging the traditional work paradigm of the long hours in the office associated with public accounting, especially during tax season. In particular, they are attempting to dispel the notion that work must be done in the CPA firms physical workplace or that employees will be most productive in the firm's offices. This view is corroborated in PwC's 2013 NextGen: A Global Generational Study (available at tinyurl.com/z2wj99z), where Millennials reported that productivity should not be "measured by the number of hours worked at the office" but instead "by the output of the work performed."
In general, Millennials seem less willing to sacrifice their personal lives and passions to be in the office when the work can still be done outside...
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