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Ways to Attract Millennials to Your Accounting Firm

By Terry Reyes posted 04-18-2019 01:50 AM

  
Attracting millennials to your accounting firm is becoming more important as this labor force continues to grow. The problem is this young workforce is different from other generations, meaning that old ways of attracting talent is not going to work. 

The following is a simple guide that should help you figure out how to attract millennials to your firm and help keep them there. 

Flexibility is Key

The regular nine to five work schedule is not always the norm amongst millennials. This schedule is too rigid, and it does not allow for a good life and work balance, which is pretty important for this group of workers. 

You might find it difficult to give employees a little more flexibility because it means you won't see them as much, but the reality is technology has made flexibility possible.

Employee communication is available virtually 24/7 through cloud services and other online communication tools. Cloud services allow employees to work remotely. These are things this workforce is aware of and usually expects from employers.

Millennial-Friendly Atmosphere

The next thing you need to consider is creating an atmosphere that millennials can respond to. There is a lot you can do here, but what you want to focus on is creating an atmosphere that makes collaboration easy, so this means open spaces. 

You also need to promote wellness, especially if your employees lead a sedentary work life. Some companies offer things like in-house gyms. Not every company can do that, but you could create a walking path to encourage active breaks or breaks where employees can take time for themselves.

Workers could use these breaks to get on social media, video chat with others, or continue their vape research as vaping is popular amongst millenials. It might also be a good idea to update your office with furniture that is a little more inviting and matches your companies logo or colors.

Transparency Really Matters

This workforce cares about the companies that employ them, especially if the companies are involved in finance. An employee can easily find out what a company is doing with profits or donations. 

This means businesses need to be a little more transparent or risk appearing dubious. An accounting firm that is willing to offer projections and data about how profits are distributed will likely attract more millennials. 

It might feel a little strange to divulge so much information, but you do not have to spill all the beans but rather just enough for employees to feel like they are in the loop.

Better Corporate Citizens

Part of the reason millennials want transparency is because they care about the company's corporate citizenship. This young group of workers want to make sure the money they earn and the companies they work for are adding something positive to the world or the community. 

A millennial will not likely purchase from a company that harms one way or another, which is a sentiment that rolls over to the companies they work for. You want your accounting firm to become more involved in the community or in forward-thinking causes.

Taking these kinds of steps helps millennials feel like they are, in a small way, contributing something good to the world by simply staying with your firm. You'd be surprised how strong of a motivator being altruistic is to this young generation, and it is something you have to adopt if you want to attract millennial accountants. 

Be Receptive at All Times

You need to make sure your accounting firm is willing to accept suggestions or at least take suggestions from your young workforce seriously. Millennials want to feel like their opinions and contributions matter. This is not exactly different from other generations, but it is important to point out because it matters to millennials, too.

Now, no one is saying you need to actually implement those suggestions unless they are good ones, but you should at least offer an explanation whenever a suggestion does not fit with your company. 

Letting your employee know why something was not implemented shows that you care about your employee's opinion by considering it. You might also want to guide an employee towards the kind of ideas your company is hoping to get so that he or she can offer better ideas next time.

These are just some of the things your accounting firm can do to attract millennials. Of course, this is a bit of a learning process, so be open to changing your tactics as you get to know this work group more.
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