Ways to Push Employees Outside Their Comfort Zone and Set Them Up for Success

Everyone needs to step out of their comfort zone to be successful. The more education, skills, and experience we gain, the more value we have to give employers. As an accounting manager, this is one reason why you should encourage your team members to regularly take on new challenges. The more progress they make, the more your company benefits.

Follow these guidelines to encourage your accounting staff to continuously expand their comfort zone and reach their full potential.

Get to Know Your Team

Have ongoing conversations to learn all you can about your employees on a personal level. Find out their work styles, communication preferences, professional goals, strengths, and interests. Use this information to determine which tasks to delegate to each team member, who should lead a project, and specific ways to help each employee earn a promotion. Showing commitment to your team’s professional growth helps them advance in their careers.

Provide Stretch Assignments

Give your team stretch assignments and other challenges that promote growth. Provide guidance and advice as they work to solve problems and overcome obstacles. Having space and responsibility to work independently and collaboratively develops independence and self-reliance. These skills are important for career development.

Offer Support

Demonstrate confidence in your team’s ability to independently handle their work. Your staff members need to know they can accomplish their tasks using their knowledge and skills with little oversight. This promotes the belief that they can build on their strengths and abilities to get the desired results. Being available to provide support when needed increases team trust and cohesion.

Provide Feedback

Give feedback in real-time to enhance your employees’ performance. Share what they are doing well, what can be improved, and specific ways to do so. Understanding what, how, and why change is needed encourages your team to continue to do better.

Recognize Achievements

Point out when your employees attain success on their way to reaching individual or team goals. Because reaching each milestone is important, privately and publicly acknowledge what the team member accomplished and how their results benefitted the organization. Be sure to provide bonuses, raises, and promotions when appropriate. The more you praise and reward your team, the more likely they are to continue to add value to the company.

Hire Top Performers

Encouraging your accounting team to continuously move beyond their comfort zone helps set them up for success. Getting to personally know your employees, providing stretch assignments, and offering support show you trust them to be self-reliant in solving problems and overcoming obstacles. Giving feedback and recognizing accomplishments encourages your team to continue to improve their performance.

When the time comes to add top finance professionals to your team, get in touch with Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Contact us for more information today.

Tips for Reducing Employee Conflict on Your Team

As a manager, you are responsible for overseeing the work and interactions of your employees. Because your staff members have different personalities, they will not always agree on everything. This is why you need a plan to help them listen to and learn from each other. Such actions can lead to greater productivity and team cohesion.

Implement these tips to lower the amount of conflict on your accounting and finance team.

Talk About Conflict Resolution

Let your team know they are expected to professionally resolve their disagreements. For instance, clarify how you will and will not get involved with conflicts. Also, explain that you are available to coach your employees through a disagreement, but they need to resolve it together. Further, encourage discussion about your staff members’ working styles and communication preferences. Understanding and respecting these characteristics can resolve potential problems in the future.

Encourage Independent Discussions

Let your employees resolve their issues as much as possible. Otherwise, they will expect you to step in as a referee. If a conflict becomes noticeable but is not being recognized or solved by the involved staff members, you should step in. For instance, separately and privately let them know their conflict is noticeable and affects the workplace. Then, think about how you can serve as a source of support and coaching without becoming overly involved in the resolution. This may involve helping both employees develop empathy for each other. For instance, consider asking what they think could be going on with their teammate and what they might want from the situation. Then, help each staff member brainstorm potential solutions to the problem. Keep in mind that if harassment, lying about work, or another inappropriate action is involved, you must discuss why the behavior cannot recur.

Hire Solution-Oriented Employees

Bringing aboard diverse staff members who focus on resolving problems helps keep the peace among your team. During interviews, you may want to ask candidates to describe a conflict they had with a coworker and how they resolved it. This provides insight into how potential hires think about conflict and move past it.

Partner with a Recruiter

Because conflicts will happen among your team members, you need a plan to resolve them. Although it is best for the involved parties to resolve the issues, you may have to step in at times to coach them through the process. Setting expectations for professional conflict resolution is an effective way to reduce the number of disagreements among your team.

When you need help hiring solution-oriented accounting and finance professionals, turn to Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Get started with us today.

3 Old-School Ways That Still Yield Recruiting Results

As recruiters, we utilize many recruiting sources to match the right candidate to our clients’ job order requests. Even though the economy is improving and more people are going back to work, we can have difficulty in finding the best candidate. With our years of experience, we have used a number of tactics to break through recruiting challenges. While job boards are helpful, we thought we would share some of the older methods that are still very effective.

Discover three old-school methods that still generate strong candidates.

Build Relationships

Create and expand on your connections. The more people in your sphere of influence, the more folks you can seek out when you are recruiting for your next open position.

Ask for Referrals

Our current clients are a top source for future clients and job orders. We ask for referrals from the clients who trust us to exceed their expectations. We often find commonalities with the referrals who may operate in the same industry, are the same size or need similar roles filled. You can use your existing professional relationships to help with candidate referrals.

Monitor Your Ratios

Your recruiting primary ratio shows how many candidate presentations you must give to obtain a quality candidate. Your goal should be no higher than 3:1. You may want to invest time in researching and planning to find the types of candidates you need. Additionally, match your primary ratio of quality candidates to send-outs. The lower the ratio, the better you are at matching what your hiring managers are looking for with qualified candidates. Pay attention to the job requirements, a fit to your company culture, and hiring goals and objectives to keep this ratio at 2:1 or better.

Work with a Staffing Leader

Enhancing client relationships and asking for referrals are two ways to widen the pool of potential candidates. Paying attention to your ratios and working to improve them also is effective.

When you need your accounting and finance job orders filled, reach out to Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. We ranked on the Forbes 2020 top 250 Best Professional Recruiting Firms in America. Learn more about our services today.

Will Relocation Packages Be Obsolete in the New Remote World?

With many relocation packages costing $25,000 – $100,000 per employee, employers are reevaluating whether remote work options make the packages necessary. In fact, some companies now are offering de-location packages for employees who want to move from an expensive city to an area with a lower cost of living and work remotely. Paying staff members to move away from their offices can provide significant benefits for both the organization and its workers.

Find out why employers are starting to offer employees de-location packages and why they can be a win for both parties.

Financial Savings

A de-location package offers substantial savings for employers and employees. Companies that have a mostly/completely remote workforce have significantly reduced/eliminated expenses related to real estate and overhead. They also have substantially lower operating costs and a greater ability to scale their workforce. All of this frees up money to pay down company debt, expand the organization, or fulfill other business objectives. Similarly, staff may be able to save thousands of dollars a month by working remotely from a less expensive location. They can pay down debt and put away more money for vacations, retirement, or other needs. This increases job satisfaction, engagement, and retention.

Competitive Edge

Offering employees a de-location package is an attractive addition to remote work policies. Although many staff enjoy living in major cities such as New York or San Francisco, the cost of living is high, and the area does not suit everyone’s lifestyle. Many employees would be happy to work for a top employer without having to live in a high-cost area. Likewise, many employers are happy not to provide the salary adjustments, housing allowances, moving expenses, real estate commissions, orientation programs, and family and spousal support involved with relocation packages. With a de-location package, they write a check for a set amount of money, such as $10,000, and let the employee handle the rest. Because this may be 10-50% of the cost of a typical relocation package, HR could de-locate 10 employees for the price of one relocation and potentially have a higher recruiting success rate.

Government Advocacy

Many local and state economic development councils offer incentives to attract remote employees. This may include compensation in the form of a tax credit, housing allowance, cash payment, coworking allowance, grant, or relocation support. This shows that many remote staff are willing to relocate under the right conditions.

Hire Accounting and Finance Professionals

The rise of remote work is shifting the need to offer relocation packages. Instead, employers are beginning to pay employees to move to lower-cost areas and work remotely. These de-location packages save the companies and their staff significant amounts of money that can be used for other purposes.

When you need to add accounting and finance members to your team, partner with Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. We have been consistently recognized for client satisfaction, winning ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing award.  Find out more about our services today.

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Why Communication Is Essential to Generating and Maintaining Job Orders

As a leading accounting and finance staffing agency, our clients sometimes ask how we consistently generate and maintain so many job orders. One of the biggest reasons is our emphasis on open communication. When everyone stays informed, and on the same page, we are able to provide the top level of service that our clients expect.

Here are five ways communication enhances how we create and carry out job orders.

Clarification 

Each recruiter verifies the pertinent information for a job order before working on it. This includes the urgency of the order, clear expectations for the candidate, a timetable for completion, and a firm commitment to proceed. Without these details, the recruiter does not have enough to go on.

Updates  

Because the contents of a job order often change, we ask that the recruiter be kept in the loop at all times. This may include alterations in the time frame for hiring, the people involved, and whether the order no longer exists because the position was filled internally.

Time Savings

When updates on a job order are efficiently communicated to the recruiter, they are able to spend their time wisely. Otherwise, the recruiter may work on a job order, then discover the job description changed, the time frame for hiring increased, or the role was filled internally.

Feedback

Since the recruiter needs to know how a candidate or placement is performing, regular feedback from our clients is essential. For instance, knowledge of where a candidate is in the interview process and the initial impression of them give the recruiter an idea of how successful the candidate may be in securing a job offer. Also, input on a placement’s job performance and fit with company culture provides insight into whether the recruiter made a good match or could have improved in specific ways. The recruiter uses this information to improve their performance and results.

Referrals

Our recruiters always are looking for referrals from satisfied clients. Because they go out of their way to provide the best possible service, our recruiters appreciate having their results talked about with other companies. Sharing client experiences through testimonials and word of mouth encourages our recruiters to continue placing the best talent.

Fill Your Job Orders

Communication is one key to how we generate and maintain job orders. Providing clarification and updates helps our recruiters make the most of their time and maximize results for you. Sharing feedback and referrals keeps them performing their best to benefit your company.

When your job orders require accounting and finance professionals, turn to Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. See how we can help you today.

June Is National Safety Month: How to Improve Cyber Security

National Safety Month is a perfect time to focus on the importance of increasing your company’s cybersecurity on an ongoing basis. Because hackers continue to refine their attempts at accessing vulnerabilities in your system, everyone in your organization must remain vigilant in protecting against cyber threats.

Be sure your office is following these five tips to enhance cybersecurity.

Require the Use of Virtual Private Networks  

Make it mandatory for employees to use virtual private networks (VPNs) for all connections. Because a VPN blocks your IP address and encrypts the data you send over the internet, hackers cannot tell your location or access the information. VPNs also block malicious websites, ads, and popups that can download malware and trackers on your device.

Enforce Password Rules and a Password Management Tool

Make sure your employees create strong passwords and regularly change them. Establishing new passwords increases the odds of keeping hackers away from your system. Using a password management tool can create secure passwords for every site and keep them confidential while allowing employees to log into accounts.

Make Two-Factor or Multi-Factor Authentication Mandatory

Two-factor or multi-factor authentication adds layers of security to the password method of identification. In addition to entering a username and password, a personal identification code, second password, fingerprint, or other authentication method is needed to access the account.

Use Anti-Virus Protection and a Firewall

Anti-virus protection software blocks malware and other malicious viruses from entering your device and compromising your data. A firewall helps screen out hackers, viruses, and other malicious activity that determines which traffic is allowed to enter your device. Windows and Mac OS X come with their own firewalls, as your router should too.

Keep Your Connections Updated

Every connection to the internet needs to be regularly updated. Implementing software and system security updates adds patches and enhancements to your operating system and applications. This limits potential exposure to vulnerabilities that hackers can try to exploit.

Hire Top Accounting and Finance Professionals

Maintenance of your cybersecurity should be a top priority at all times, especially within accounting and finance departments. Consistently changing and protecting passwords, running updates, and watching for suspicious emails help protect your company from hackers.

When you need to add accounting and finance professionals to your team, let Casey Accounting & Finance Resources help. Reach out to learn more today.

High-Priority Accounting Positions to Fill Outside of Tax Season

As a manager of an accounting team, you need to be ready to hire at any time throughout the year. Although there are times when your employees are busier than usual and may need temporary help, there also are times when they decide to retire, go on leave, or seek other employment opportunities. These are reasons why you should be prepared to bring aboard additional team members at any point.

Discover three types of accounting positions you need to prioritize filling.

Positions of Retiring Baby Boomers

With an increasing number of baby boomers retiring, be sure you have a succession plan in place. Keep in mind that filling the gap may be a challenge. Most baby boomers invested a significant number of years with their employer. When they leave, they take a substantial amount of knowledge, skills, and experience with company culture, coworker relationships, and the organization’s inner workings with them. As a result, make it a priority to have these employees train their successors. This is especially important if your new hires have limited work experience.

Positions of Employees Going on Leave

When your employees plan to go on family, parental, or other planned leave, be sure you have a temporary worker lined up to fill in. This can minimize disruption to workflows and production processes. Gaining a short-term worker with the skills and qualifications needed to take over responsibilities reduces the amount of downtime your team experiences.

Positions of Employees Pursuing Other Opportunities

If an employee unexpectedly quits or is let go, you need to fill the vacancy as soon as possible. To expedite the process, have a list of skills and qualifications needed to include in the job description. Set aside adequate time to create a job posting, advertise the role, interview candidates, and extend a job offer. Better yet, work with a staffing agency that specializes in placing accounting candidates. You gain access to a diverse network of qualified professionals ready to meet with you and begin performing in a short amount of time. You spend significantly less time and money finding top talent than if you recruited on your own.

Partner with an Accounting and Finance Recruiter

When your accounting positions become vacant due to retirement, planned leave, or unexpected vacancies, you need the roles filled as quickly as possible. Because these scenarios can happen at any time, it is important you have a plan for how to best proceed.

Part of your plan should include contacting Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. As a recipient of ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Award from 2014 to 2020, which less than 2% of staffing agencies in the U.S. and Canada earn, our high client satisfaction scores show our dedication to providing quality service. Contact us today to find out more.

Management Challenges to Avoid

Managing an accounting and finance team has its challenges. Among them are adequate communication with your team, performance levels meeting standards, and maintaining enough team members to handle workflows. Fortunately, there are ways to overcome these issues and continue to move forward.

Discover three challenges most accounting and finance managers face and how to avoid them. 

Low Communication with the Team  

Inadequate communication with your team members can lead to problems down the road. For instance, your employees may not understand their role in a project, what they should be focusing on at a given time, or when the work should be done by. To avoid these issues, talk with your employees on a frequent basis. Redefine your standards for reaching team goals and objectives. Ensure your employees understand their individual and team responsibilities and deadlines. Reinforce the importance of asking questions.

Performance Levels Below Expectations

Your employees will have times where they are less productive than usual. This can affect your other team members, especially if they need to take on additional tasks to maintain productivity. When this happens, you need to motivate your employees to get back to their typical performance level. For instance, schedule time to talk privately with your team member. Clarify what their work hours, targets, and goals are. Compare your expectations to actual performance. Ask what has been causing the employee’s decrease in performance and how you can help. Work together to create a plan to improve by a certain deadline. Provide constructive feedback until you get together for further discussion.

The Team Is Understaffed

Consistently having more work than your employees can handle can lead to burnout. This is why you should consider adding a permanent or temporary member to your team. The additional worker can take on tasks that team members had been adding to their plates. This division of responsibilities allows everyone to focus on what they do best while reducing stress levels.

Work with a Professional Recruiter

Managing an accounting and finance team poses significant challenges. Among them is lack of adequate communication with your team, employees not meeting performance expectations, and regularly having too much work for your team to handle. Fortunately, these issues can be worked on with clear planning and action.

When you need help finding qualified accounting and finance candidates who are a good fit for your company and department cultures, partner with a recruiter from Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Find out more today.

How the Right Employees Impact the Growth of Your Business

Having the right accounting and finance professionals on your team promotes company growth. Along with finding ways to increase efficiencies and decrease costs, your employees contribute to the organization in other ways. By carrying out your company mission and remaining engaged in their work, they create a positive environment to work in. Because your team members prioritize professional growth, they strive to attain company goals that move the business forward.

Discover five ways having the right employees on your team benefits your company.

Company Mission

With the right employees on your team, your company mission is carried out. Because your team members help run your organization, they act according to its guidelines for conducting business. As the lifeblood for your company, your employees include company vision and values in their interactions. Behavior in line with your culture further enhances your workplace. Happy employees remain engaged and productive, increasing your bottom line.

Employee Engagement

When the right employees are on your team, they remain engaged in their work. Because your team members enjoy what they do, they continue to take on new challenges and excel. As their enthusiasm and confidence grow, collaboration, productivity, and job satisfaction increase. This improves employee retention.

Work Environment

When you have the right employees, they create a positive work environment. Because your team members effectively complete their work, morale increases. Since your employees stay motivated and engaged throughout the day, you provide recognition and rewards to promote their performance level. The energy of your team attracts other talented people who want to work for you.

Employee Growth

Having the right employees on your team means they value ongoing professional growth. Your team members enjoy setting new goals, reaching milestones, and celebrating successes. They regularly engage in training and continuing education, hold themselves and others accountable, and learn from mistakes. Because your employee evaluations consistently show growth over time, you reward your team members with bonuses, raises, and promotions.

Goal Attainment

Working with the right employees helps you reach business goals. They continually find ways to increase efficiency and revenue while decreasing costs. Your team members also meet deadlines, reach milestones, and celebrate successes. This paves the way to achieve bigger goals long-term.

Source Top Accounting and Finance Professionals

Having the right employees on your team increases the success of your business. When your team members carry out your company mission and remain engaged in their work, they create a positive work environment. Because your employees prioritize professional growth, they are driven to achieve business goals. All of these factors attract top talent to your organization, further enhancing your bottom line.

Reach out to Casey Accounting & Finance Resources when you need to add professionals to your accounting and finance team. See why we have been awarded the Best of Staffing® Award for service excellence for the seventh year in a row, an honor that less than 1% of all staffing firms in the U.S. and Canada receive. Get more information today.

Candidate Ghosting: What to Do When This Happens to You

Ghosting can happen at any point in your recruitment process. Candidates might not show up for interviews, respond to job offers, or follow up with you. Perhaps they lose interest in your company or accept an interview or job elsewhere. In any case, you need to figure out why candidates leave your recruitment process without a word and how you can resolve the issue.

Here are three steps you can take when ghosted by a candidate.

Follow Up

Contact candidates by their preferred communication method to see why they did not move forward in your recruitment process. Let them know they are welcome to pursue other opportunities; you simply would like an update on whether they still are interested in working for you. If you do not hear back, send an email with a survey link asking for feedback about your company. If the candidate had a bad experience, they are more likely to share details in an email than over the phone. Use the information you receive to improve your recruitment process.

Review Your Recruitment Process

Find ways to improve your recruitment process. For instance, be sure you are connecting with each candidate from the start. This includes reaching out several times throughout each stage to keep each candidate informed about where they are in the process and what to prepare for next. Also, use different touchpoints to share your company’s story and provide a feel for its culture. Also, maintain transparency in every interaction. This involves setting clear expectations throughout the hiring process and following up. Additionally, make sure your interview process is as short as possible. This includes taking out unnecessary steps and clarifying each person’s role to avoid redundancy. Plus, use recruitment marketing tools to create detailed performance reports that demonstrate candidate engagement in real-time. This shows where in your recruitment process candidates tend to stop moving forward. Use the data to improve this part of the process.

Improve Your Candidate Experience

Determine how you can enhance your candidate experience. For instance, use your employer brand to show the advantages of working for your organization. Also, set up personalized email campaigns focused on your company culture and impact in the community. Additionally, let your chosen candidates set and/or change their interview times to fit their schedules. This increases the odds of candidates meeting with you.

Contact a Recruiter

Candidate ghosting is becoming increasingly common. When candidates decide not to move forward in your recruitment process, follow up with them. Ask for feedback on why they decided to pursue other opportunities. Use what you learn to improve your recruitment process and candidate experience.

To avoid being ghosted by accounting and finance candidates, talk with Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. We have a deep network of accounting and finance professionals with the skills and qualifications needed to enhance your team. Talk with a recruiter today.