Firms find it’s cool to be kind

How three firms have employed kindness initiatives to create a culture that attracts and retains talent.

A boss throws a tantrum to rival a 2-year-old. Co-workers snap after too many long days of work during busy season. Clients bite your head off when you ask for a crucial document they didn’t upload to your portal.

You’ve heard about tax and accounting firms like this and may have even worked at one. But a workplace that tolerates hostility or has an unconcerned culture is not a place anyone wants to work, including young talent in a tough hiring market.

Innovative firms focusing on positive social and corporate governance are promoting a new kind of culture to attract and retain employees: a culture of kindness. AAFCPAs, Lane Gorman Trubitt LLC, and Tax Hack Accounting Group — three firms of different sizes and scopes — implemented dynamic programs and activities to encourage kindness among their staff, clients, and communities — and it wasn’t difficult to do. Here are their stories.

AAFCPAs: KINDNESS IS A MOTTO — AND MUCH MORE

Firm niche: AAFCPAs provides audit, tax, accounting, and advisory solutions to nonprofits, commercial companies, and wealthy individuals and estates.

Size: 44 partners and 300 employees and staff.

Location: New England. Staff work from anywhere.

How does your firm define kindness? “Kindness is really making sure we’re leading with empathy and that people are comfortable bringing their whole selves to work.” — Carla McCall, CPA, CGMA

Focus of the firm’s kindness initiatives: A human-first culture.

At AAFCPAs, happy team members make happy clients.

“It’s a motto we live by,” said Carla McCall, CPA, CGMA, the firm’s managing partner and chair elect of the AICPA. “We’re always focused on our people, first, because we know our clients will be happy if our team members are happy.”

How do you create happy employees?

Implement a human-first culture, she said. For AAFCPAs, part of that process included publishing a Culture Statement that is published online and linked in all of the firm’s proposals. Under “Social Purpose,” the statement includes “We hold each other accountable to promote kindness.”

The firm has also built kindness into its business structure and culture by implementing policies that resonate with staff, McCall said. For example, instead of officially closing the offices for specific holidays, the firm encourages employees to take time off according to their individual holiday observances. They also recognize and reward kindness and character annually with partner- and peer-nominated awards. AAFCPAs’ Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Committee promotes kindness by fostering a culture of collaboration, respect, and inclusion. Through initiatives such as unconscious bias training and other learning and development topics, the committee encourages open conversations, understanding, and empathy among employees, ultimately creating a workplace where individuals feel valued, respected, and supported.

These kinds of policies aren’t just key to fulfilling the social component of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies, which have become increasingly important to boards and investors inside and outside the profession. The policies fall in line with the expectations of Generation Z, the largest pool of potential talent to join a practice.

“Gen Zers are focused on the meaningful work connection and asking questions in interviews that we haven’t heard up to now, such as ‘What are your values?’ ” said McCall. “Before their generation, questions focused more on technical abilities or the kind of work they would do inside the firm.”

Now, the conversation turns to philanthropy and good works. For example, AAFCPAs donates 10% of net annual profits to nonprofits, donates to charities championed by employees, and directs giving to causes that serve communities experiencing social and humanitarian crises. For example, they supported organizations connected to community relations after the George Floyd killing, as well as charities rallying for peace in the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas war.

An important feature in AAFCPAs’ kindness culture is saying thanks. Every partner begins and ends their meetings with an expression of gratitude.

“We ask people to share gratitude in Zoom or Teams meeting chat,” said McCall. “Getting grounded in gratitude really resets your mind.”

McCall emphasizes how important it is that a firm’s gratitude practices should be authentic; after all, showing gratitude isn’t an enforced rule. Gratitude is modeled from the top down, encouraging kindness among all employees.

“You can’t just say it; you must model it,” she said. “You need tone at the top and real actions by partners and firms. It must be a core value.”

LANE GORMAN TRUBITT, LLC: KINDNESS IS CONSTANT

Firm niche: Lane Gorman Trubitt, LLC, provides accounting, audit, tax, and consulting to the middle market.

Size: 28 directors and shareholders and 146 employees.

Location: Dallas and Houston. Staff work in-person or remote.

How does your firm define kindness? “Kindness is coming from a bigger place than just being nice to everybody. We can show people how to react in a better way and, at the same time, help others feel good.” — Yolanda A. Szabo, CPA

Focus of the firm’s kindness initiatives:

Internal, encouraging kindness among employees.

The Kindness Committee at Lane Gorman Trubitt (LGT) started its work in August 2022.

Nearly a third of the company’s employees joined for the initial gathering, the first of the firm’s monthly Kindness Committee meetings.

“It goes to show how important this is to so many people,” said Carleigh Adams, an auditor and Kindness Committee member.

The committee’s first action was a survey to assess the ways employees wanted to receive kindness: Quietly through notes? Publicly with recognition? From there, the committee developed initiatives that would help organically grow kindness in ways that mattered.

“We really want to focus on internal initiatives that grow our team,” said Yolanda A. Szabo, CPA, senior tax manager. “I think our activities are going to make our people better, which will reflect in our relationships with our clients. That’s the goal.”

LGT has implemented several initiatives that help generate positive feelings. For example, employees nominate a co-worker for a quarterly kindness award. The winner receives a $25 gift card for themselves and another $25 gift card they can give away to someone they feel needs it that day.

“Something we think is unique is our kindness jar. Each week, people fill the jar with anonymous notes of thanks or praise, then pass the jar along to the next person,” said Szabo. The notes are not addressed to any one person; the idea is to have any note apply to any situation in order to brighten anyone’s day.

“When someone needs an emotional pick-me-up, they can open any message in the jar, anytime they want,” she said.

The Kindness Committee and the firm’s DEI Committee partner to select a handful of nonprofits to support with service projects and on-site volunteer opportunities during the last two months of each year. Employees are encouraged to get involved, with the office closing for a day to support the volunteer work.

“What we’re fostering is a more personable environment, allowing people to make connections with others,” Adams said.

This kind of personable environment is a boon for recruitment efforts, she said. Similar to AAFCPAs, LGT’s partners are sensing the change in expectations among prospects.

“Interview questions are more about how they are going to be treated, along with the culture and the environment they’re going to be in,” Szabo said. “The partners realize there has been a shift in the values employees want from their employer.

The old mentality isn’t going to work anymore if you want people to be productive — and stay at the firm.”

Employee retention and happiness are two main concerns.

“Prioritizing a positive atmosphere makes for happier employees,” she said. “It makes them want to stay and be more productive. We want a safe place for employees to be able to communicate how they’re feeling and what they’re going through, especially as even more new generations come through.”

The best part for firms of all sizes? Kindness doesn’t need to have a dollar figure attached to it.

“You don’t have to pay money to be kind,” said Adams. “Kindness can happen anywhere, anytime.

Kindness is low effort with a high impact.”

TAX HACK ACCOUNTING GROUP: KINDNESS IS BUILT INTO EVERYTHING

Firm niche: Tax Hack Accounting Group provides tax advisory services to internet, software, and e-commerce businesses.

Size: three partners and 28 employees and staff.

Location: California, New York, North Carolina, and Texas. Staff work hybrid and remote.

How does your firm define kindness? “Kindness is an exercise of patience and empathy.” — Miguel Alexander Centeno, EA

Focus of the firm’s kindness initiatives: The employee-client relationship.

In Tax Hack’s world, kindness is a two-way street: Employees give kindness and receive it from their clients.

“There’s a cost of not having intentionality around how you’re treated by clients,” said founder and Managing Partner Miguel Alexander Centeno, EA. “With high demand and low supply in our profession, one of the beautiful opportunities is that you can be very intentional about creating a long and profitable firm-client relationship. It must be kind.”

At Tax Hack, the ideal client extends empathy to the employees and staff. It’s an explicit expectation for kindness that’s baked right into the firm’s footnotes in their tax and accounting correspondence, alongside Circular 230, for every new client. Being open and honest about the firm’s kindness disclaimer helps enforce expectations — and even the possibility of dropping the client if communications are out of line.

“Kindness starts with the firm’s staff,” said Centeno. “They don’t email brusque one-liners to clients, such as, ‘Hey, I don’t have this so I’m not going to file your return.’ Instead, [they] say, ‘We know this might be stressful. We encourage you to take a moment before replying if this is not welcome news. We’re all working hard.’”

Centeno and his partners encourage employees to consider the client’s point of view and be aware of how their message is coming across. Then, they work to give employees the time and capacity to create patient responses. Caring about the other person’s perspective and making the time for patience is, in Centeno’s view, not just kind; it’s smart. The output is fair and frequent communications with clients, many of whom aren’t financial experts themselves.

Communication is so key to Tax Hack’s kindness culture that the firm is constantly monitoring its Net Promoter Score. When clients email for help, the firm wants to be on top of a speedy and kind response.

Tax Hack supports a number of other initiatives to encourage kindness among staff, including community work in financial education outreach and quarterly “crush-it calls,” a firm-hosted goal-setting meeting. During these calls, one staff member gets “crushed” — or highlighted — with “lots of warm fuzzies,” Centeno said.

These initiatives are designed to keep employees from feeling burned out and avoid the toxic traits Centeno has witnessed in other firms when, for example, staff bragged about neglecting oneself because of work, and glorified suffering and sacrifice to “live the dream.”

“New generations expect that we’re focused on culture, but I think how you validate culture is a different thing,” he said. “Above all, we want a great place to work.”

Other ways to boost employee retention

Kindness initiatives are not the only steps accounting firms can take to improve employee retention. Other ideas include:

• Boosting salaries, especially for recent college graduates.
• Reducing or eliminating overtime hours, even during busy season.
• Introducing automation technologies to increase capacity.
• Outsourcing lower-level or noncore work.
• Right-sizing the client base.

Source: The 2023 AICPA PCPS National Management of an Accounting Practice Survey Executive Summary. Client evaluation tool

About the author

Scott H. Cytron, ABC, is president of Cytron and Company, known for helping companies and organizations improve their bottom line through strategic public relations, communications, marketing programs, and client service. Contact him at scott@cytronandcompany.com. Alysha Love contributed to the writing of this article. To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Jeff Drew at Jeff.Drew@aicpa-cima.com.

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AICPA & CIMA RESOURCES

Articles

“Enjoying Work Is More Important Than Pay, Global Report Says,” AICPA & CIMA, Oct. 1, 2023

“Demystifying What The Next Generation Wants From Employers,” AICPA & CIMA, Sept. 30, 2023

“Creating a Culture That Promotes Employee Wellbeing,” AICPA & CIMA Small Firm Solutions blog, Sept. 30, 2023

Podcast episode

“Culture You Can Feel: Advice for Making It an Accelerator, Not a Constraint,” JofA, Feb. 16, 2023

Websites

PCPS mental health resources

Client evaluation tool