Pretty much every survey under the sun identifies recruitment and retention as one of the top five issues facing accounting and finance organizations today. Everyone is struggling with this and nobody seems to know how to solve it.

There are a lot of suggestions being put forward throughout the profession — communicate, be a role model, make your expectations clear, offer a safe working environment, provide a clear career path, build leaders — and that’s all great advice. Yet, no matter how many times we hear this, talent continues to be one of our most pressing problems.

So, what’s the real issue here? Why can’t we hire the people we want? And why can we keep the people we have?

Our guest Alan Jagonlinzer has some ideas. Alan is a Professor of Financial Accounting, the Head of the Accounting Faculty Subject Group, and the Director of the Centre for Financial Reporting & Accountability at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, where he has helped develop leadership, innovation, and change-management degree programs for accountants.

You may not want to hear everything Alan says about what’s causing our recruitment and retention woes — but they’re things you have to hear.

To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit blionline.org/blog.

Resources:

• Learn more at jbs.cam.ac.uk
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jagolinzer
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jagolinzer
• World Finance: “Mental health issues are becoming more prevalent in the financial services sector”
• Economia: “Third of accountants suffer from poor mental health.”
• Bloomberg Tax: “U.K. accountants in mental health crisis from work stress.”
• Check out MACPA.org/future-learning

Future-Proof is a production of Crate Media