6 creative ways to say thank you to your team after a tax season that is busy
Your team has just completed another tax season. You’ve been working non-stop and you want to retain their talent. It’s time for you to start thinking of ways to thank your team for a job done. Pay for meals since your team has been working around the clock
During the busy season, accounting professionals work long hours. Taking extra steps to show you recognize their hard work can make a big difference. You can improve employee morale by providing lunch to your staff. You could even go a step further by planning a week-long thanksgiving. As a former tax manager for Frazier and Deeter
Carlton Huntley, J.D. LL.M.
provided insights from his prior role as a state tax editor at Thomson Reuters Checkpoint: “Providing meals was important to build comradery. It also provided a period and opportunity to ‘work between works’. Offer workplace perks
After an especially hard season, it’s nice to be able to relax and enjoy some downtime. Your team will appreciate the help they get in “recovery”. With the pace at which they have been working, it’s important to give them some ways to relax. Consider hiring a massage therapist who can offer 15-minute shoulder and neck massages, or creating a “quiet” room where employees can relax for 10-15 minutes. Why not give your staff the option to wear jeans if they don’t have any meetings that day? You can offer a more relaxed dress-code without spending a penny. Huntley says that a relaxed dress-code “… helped create a “foxhole” mentality that made the work that was often required more meaningful. When you’re dressed down with your colleagues, working late-nights and evenings, it helps foster a more worker-like attitude than our usual business casual dress.”
–Also if you haven’t already set up an employee appreciation program, now is the perfect time to do so. Recognize the top performers in your company for a job done well. Consider continuing the recognition throughout the year. You may find that this will make your team more engaged and committed. Give the gift time
Extra vacation time after tax season is one of the best gifts you can give to a tax professional. Give them some guilt-free vacation days to enjoy with their family and friends. After a busy tax season, give your staff some time away from work to reset their mentality. Without at least some marker of the end of busy season, work can feel like one long busy season, which I have found to be one of the main causes of burnout and employees trying to exit the profession entirely.”
BlogTax practice tune up: Five tips for the off season
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4. This could mean opening later or closing earlier, taking a half-day on Fridays, or setting a policy of “no-meeting Fridays.” This could mean a change in your firm’s structure. It could be a half-day Friday, a Friday without meetings, or a later closing time. Plan team building exercisesThere are many different types of team-building exercises that are appropriate for accounting firms. Consider taking your entire company to a ropes-course or escape room. Or, plan smaller-scale activities such as idea-sharing meals, a cook off, or a scavenger-hunt on-site. Offer learning opportunitiesOnce they’ve
had some time to relax and rejuvenate after the busy season, accounting professionals often appreciate the opportunity to sharpen their skills and take care of their CPE requirements. Offering a
perk like access
to AuditWatch
will give them the training they need to do their best work. Giving the ultimate post-tax season gift is the best way to thank your staff for a job done. Accounting professionals agree that investing in office technology can provide a number of benefits, including a smoother workflow and the ability to work less during busy seasons. Huntley concluded that “tax season will always be stressful but the right tools make it more bearable.” White paper
Plan next year’s taxes by embracing transformative tech
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