After remote working has become the norm in many cases, will return-to-office mandates increase or decrease productivity for professionals in tax & accounting firms?
Nearly five years ago, the world was thrust into a social experiment that mandated working from home. As the risk of in-person contact passed, businesses reopened office spaces and employees were empowered with the choice of where they worked. Hybrid work arrangements, in which team members work from home, from clients, or from the office became common.
In addition, more options for flex hours and four-day work weeks emerged. Creativity around the time-and-place work paradigm, especially for knowledge workers, blossomed; and team members began to rely on these flexible options to better integrate their work and life schedules. Flexible work options moved from a nice-to-have perk to a must-have benefit that team members now relied upon.
In the last few months, however, headlines have been peppered with news of companies rescinding their work-from-home options and putting in place return-to-office (RTO) mandates. Some business leaders are even mandating five-days-a-week in the office beginning January 2025.
When explaining the mandates, the reasons these RTO promoters give vary, including the need for in-person work to improve collaboration, innovation, productivity, learning, relationships, and company culture. But this RTO news is not sitting well with companies’ talent. For example, when Amazon recently made an RTO announcement, a blind survey of 2,585 Amazon employees found that 73% of employees are considering looking for another job because of the new in-office work policy.
RTO mandates risk turnover, which will likely negatively impact work culture and productivity, which in turn can ultimately lead to greater turnover.
The tax & accounting profession is already facing capacity and talent pipeline challenges. The number of college graduates heading into the profession has been declining, and only “one in nine college business-related bachelor’s graduates” are choosing an accounting degree, according to the National Pipeline Advisory Group (NPAG). Given the number of career options open to accounting graduates, tax & accounting firm leaders need to be mindful of what will appeal to talent at all levels.
Flexibility in work is crucial, survey says
In 2024, ConvergenceCoaching added an element to its biennial Anytime Anywhere Work™ (ATAWW) Survey that queried accounting firm leaders on their remote and flex work offerings and also surveyed public accounting team members to hear their thoughts on these benefits.
Responding team members confirmed the importance of having a choice in where they work, according to the ATAWW Survey. In fact, 83% of respondents said that remote work flexibility is very important to them; and 55% said they would likely seek a new job if they lost the ability to work remotely.
Clearly, those firms maintaining hybrid, remote, and flex-time benefits will have a competitive advantage in acquiring and retaining top talent in this tight talent market. Not surprisingly, in the five years since the pandemic, workers have developed new habits and schedules that enable them to achieve greater work-life integration; 93% of respondents said they feel work-life integration has improved with remote work options.
Today, accounting firm leaders who embrace a one-size-fits-one approach to remote and flex work arrangements could more positively influence firm culture, productivity, and morale by empowering their talent to choose the best and most effective work environment for their day. Instead of RTO mandates, leaders could implement adjustments to incorporate remote management techniques.
The need to outline clear expectations
It is important to clarify what is expected of each employee, because when working at different times or in disbursed locations, the lack of face time can leave some leaders wondering about team member productivity. To ensure productivity levels stay high, leaders need to clearly communicate:
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- expected team member output, deliverables, or results
- specific due dates
- clear response time expectations to email, Teams messages, and voicemails
- participation guidelines for remote team meetings (cameras are on, unmuted and speaking up, chatting, facilitating portions of meetings)
- protocols for communicating during normal, agreed-upon work hours as well as changes from the expected normal hours
- ways to communicate capacity and move past barriers in completing work
- supervisor/assignee communication expectations
- expectations for skill development and elevation into higher level work
- guidelines for keeping calendars current and specific
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Establishing clarity around these expectations, leaders can then track and benchmark performance against them instead of measuring less-reliable metrics like time-entered, face time, or keystrokes.
An RTO mandate may feel like a simple way to solve people-management challenges, but it’s likely to have significant unintended consequences on engagement, productivity, motivation, and ultimately, talent retention. Instead, leaders should develop new management strategies that include clearer expectations that can empower employees to produce their very best in both their work lives and their personal lives no matter where or when they are working.
You can find out more about the talent challenges facing tax & accounting firms here.