Practices are finding it increasingly challenging to recruit, manage, develop and retain their employees – and also to provide a good working environment with a positive and clear culture.
Smaller practices may struggle to manage the day-to-day ‘HR’ issues alongside the challenges of delivering value to their client base. Larger practices can forget to manage and invest in their talent, resulting in it walking out the door to a more appreciative competitor.
Frequently, the resulting recruitment activity is ‘cavalier’. With the war for talent so strong, the recruitment process is often informal, poorly planned and executed.
In many cases, no detailed role profile is evident, no resource partner carefully chosen (or fees negotiated upon), no inclusive recruitment process agreed, and in a few cases, individual references are not are not taken at all.
Why are practices happy to pay extortionate recruitment fees to replace employees, but not to invest that same money into the development and nurturing of those same employees – making it a much harder decision for them to leave? Nurture = loyalty.
The MTD effect on roles
Making Tax Digital (MTD) is bringing us increasingly to the assessment of individuals. We see MTD as a catalyst for reassessing individuals’ roles and indeed dictating future employment profiles for new employees.
Processes and staffing will have to be reviewed/redeployed and, in our view, this is not a situation that is going to sit naturally and easily with most practices.
Speak to us
HR is one of only a few key pillars which fundamentally support a progressive and growing practice. As is highlighted by the paragraphs above, being able to successfully manage talent, innovation, collaboration and engagement across your practice, is quite often directly linked to the leadership given by a small handful of people within the practice.
We focus much energy and resource on leadership, helping our clients to develop their leadership capacity and leadership capital, helping people define themselves as leaders and supplying some practical skills knowledge that will support them in their journey as a leader. Our offering includes:
Bespoke senior management and partner development
Ensuring aspiring partners and junior partners understand their role and responsibilities
360-degree appraisal and benchmarking
Arranging feedback from your employees and teams, without this you aren’t best equipped to devise strategy
Coaching and mentoring
Managing, introducing and implementing team appraisal systems
Staff and practice skill-set analysis to prepare for MTD and an increasingly digital age
If talent management and leadership are issues for you and your practice, please speak to us. Email Julia Whistler at julia@foulgerunderwood.com and we will help.
Find out omre about our HR and people services here.
