Petersen Sullivan LLP is one of the largest Certified Public Accounting (CPA) firms in the Pacific Northwest. While some of you don’t find accounting exciting, Petersen Sullivan has been able to do something very cool with their talent management programs.

With approximately 35% of the firm’s accounting staff under the age of 25, HR heard the message from new hires that high quality feedback on their work was a priority. These same employees wanted a clear understanding of the firm’s evaluation process, and how that system segued into salary increases and promotion possibilities.

As with most professional services organizations, these associates have multiple managers, which made evaluation and feedback complicated. As Andrea Ballard, Director of HR and Administration explains:

“The feedback was infrequent. It was difficult to ensure that the insights being provided were quality, and when it came time to pull everything together this feedback often became diluted. I’d have to compile as many as 18 different written reviews per individual into one single paper document. It was incredibly labor intensive.”

After the first year of Ballard leading this process, the firm opted to automate their system to ensure they were able to provide feedback in a more consistent manner.

We’re pleased to hear that since the firm deployed our professional services solution, feedback on the new system has been extremely positive. Like most companies, success at Peterson Sullivan is driven in part by how well an individual takes what they learn on one job and applies it to another. Ballard explains:

“Since managers don’t necessarily discuss individual employee performance with each other, the engagement review feature allows me to identify issues early. If an employee receives feedback indicating they need to improve in specific areas and we see these issues recurring in future engagements – that triggers a follow up with the employee to make sure they’re getting the support they need. Conversely, I can also identify someone who is consistently praised and bookmark them as a high-potential employee.”

As one may expect with an accounting firm, the new approach to talent management has been assessed and measured. The firm’s smooth and streamlined transition from an informal paper approach to automated and formalized templates and procedures has resulted in a 44 per cent increase in productivity during annual evaluation time; translating into a first-year cost savings of $18,750.

Ballard has also measured the turnover rate since deployment. In the first year of implementation; the firm had a 15.3 percent turnover rate, against the industry average of 21.95 per cent. Additional benefits to Petersen Sullivan have been improved consistency as well as more time for analysis leading to better planning and decision making.

The firm is looking forward to further reducing the turnover rate to below 10 per cent, and continuing to increase employee engagement and dedication in support of the firm’s goals.

I’m interested in hearing from other professional services firms on their successes – comment below.