The talent war impacting the tax and accounting profession wages on. Finding and keeping qualified talent continues to be a major challenge for firms. Staffing shortages can quickly lead to stress and burnout. When talent is in short supply and forces current staff to work long hours year-round, fatigue can lead to health issues and even resignation.
Here’s an inside look at how top firms relieve staffing strain and ease the burden on staff.
Factors Contributing to the Talent War
Understanding the factors that contribute to the talent war is the first step to relieve staffing strain. The demand for skilled professionals is high, but the supply is low as firms compete for the best candidates and employees look for better opportunities. Some of the main factors impacting staffing include:
The COVID-19 Pandemic
The pandemic created both challenges and opportunities as many tax and accounting professionals were forced to work remotely. The demand for digital skills accelerated and employers found it necessary to adapt to the situation with technological solutions like the SafeSend Suite® to automate tax processes or fall behind.
Generational Shift
Baby boomers continue to retire, and fewer Millennials and Gen Z are entering the tax and accounting profession—and they don’t have the same expectations. This generational shift reflects a priority shift as incoming employees have a lower level of loyalty to a single employer and place a higher emphasis on work-life balance and career development.
Automate your tax process with the SafeSend Suite and save time across the tax engagement process to provide staff with a healthier work-life balance. When staff can complete tasks quickly, they no longer need to work excruciating hours so they have time to renew and refresh.
The Gap in Skills
New technologies, regulations, and client needs continue to emerge. Tax and accounting professionals must constantly update their skills and knowledge. Bridging the gap between skills that employers need and the skills that employees have, or can acquire, is a key component in gaining an advantage in the talent war. Simple, straightforward automation solutions found in SafeSend Returns® and other tools in the SafeSend Suite reduce errors and help firms level up their tax engagement strategies.
4 Key Ways Firms Relieve Staffing Pain
The struggle to recruit and retain talent has a significant impact on both firms and employees in the tax and accounting profession. Forward-thinking firms are taking steps to mitigate and relieve staffing pain points.
1. Address Turnover Rates
With more options and bargaining power due to the talent war, switching jobs or careers has never been easier for employees. Firms feel the ripple effect of the higher turnover rates as their reputation, productivity, profitability, and client satisfaction are often negatively impacted.
Implementing automation solutions eliminates repetitive tasks and reduces the heavy weight the admin team shoulders, creating a more suitable work environment.
2. Do More with Less to Balance Increased Costs
Attracting and keeping employees requires more incentives, which increases costs. Firms are spending more to entice and retain talent with higher salaries and bonuses, more robust benefits, and better training. They also invest in talent by developing current employees and finding ways to accommodate a remote work environment.
One way firms are balancing this increased spending is reducing their tech stack and the costs associated with multiple vendors. Not only is this beneficial for firms’ bottom line, but utilizing the single-source automation solution of the SafeSend Suite replaces multiple software packages simplifies processes for staff and provides a single, familiar, intuitive experience for clients.
3. Improve Work Quality
Challenges with finding and retaining qualified staff has a negative impact on the quality of work. Increased errors and delays or issues with compliance can result in less than satisfactory client service which has a ripple effect throughout the firm.
Adopting the SafeSend Suite automation solutions address client touchpoints across the tax engagement eliminating data entry errors and streamlining workflow. The SafeSend Suite dashboard tracks all documents simplifying compliance and audit department processes. Reducing manual tasks not only relieves staffing strain but increases the quality of work and elevates client service.
4. Find Successful Solutions
The talent war is a reality that the tax and accounting profession cannot ignore. It poses significant challenges and opportunities for both firms and professionals. To succeed, top firms leverage technology, foster culture, and offer flexibility. These strategies can help firms attract, retain, and develop the best talent in the market.
They also use the SafeSend Suite to support their efforts to relieve staffing strain by reducing tedious tasks, paring down tech stack, and saving firms money.
The SafeSend Suite offers powerful functionality to tax and accounting professionals to address every client touch point—and eliminate pain points—across the tax engagement.
- Engagement Letters – SafeSend Signatures™
- Tax Organizers – SafeSend Organizers™
- Assemble & Delivery – SafeSend Returns®
- Secure File Exchange – SafeSend Exchange™
- Extensions – SafeSend Extensions™
SafeSend Returns, a multi-year winner of the CPA Practice Advisor Technology Innovation Award, is at the core of the suite and eliminates the manual, labor-intensive tasks many tax departments experience during the assembly and delivery of client-ready tax returns.
Top firms leverage technology to their advantage—especially when looking for ways to alleviate the burden manual tasks place on their staff.
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SafeSend Returns is the flagship solution in the SafeSend Suite and a multi-year winner of the CPA Practice Advisor Technology Innovation Award. SafeSend Returns eliminates the manual, labor-intensive elements many tax departments experience producing client-ready tax returns.