5 Ways to Motivate Accounting Employees During Tax Season
Are your accounting employees dreading tax season?
Looking for ways to keep your team motivated?
When tax season rolls around, accounting employees can easily become overwhelmed. While tax season can be a very tough time of year, it doesn’t have to be a complete nightmare.
Below are a few things you can do to make sure your team stays motivated during tax season.
1. Communicate Clearly With Your Team
During this time of year, tensions are high. Even a strong team can have a hard time staying sane. A little bit of miscommunication can go a long way. If expectations aren’t clear, employees may easily become frustrated and lose motivation.
It’s important to set clear goals and requirements. Make sure every member of your accounting staff knows what needs to be done and exactly when each assignment or task will be due.
Make sure to set clear goals from the very beginning and you’ll eliminate the chance of errors and resentment happening due to poor communication.
2. Celebrate Staff Accomplishments
The next thing that you absolutely need to be doing during tax season is offering plenty of positive reinforcement to your employees.
Don’t just celebrate large wins but also devote some attention to even the small accomplishments and milestones.
Whether you choose to offer a few small gifts to show appreciation or send a quick email shoutout, either way, is fine. Just make sure to let your team know that their good work is not going unnoticed.
3. Be Ready for Obstacles
Not everything goes smoothly during tax season. Be aware and set any preventative measures you can to keep things going smoothly as your accounting team is working hard.
Plan for system failures and technology problems in advance. Consider having someone on staff for IT support should any technical problems arise that gets in the way of the workflow.
Additionally, do what you can to make sure that air conditioning, heating, lighting, photocopiers and all other tools and accommodations in your workspace remain in tiptop shape. If anything goes wrong, make sure all problems are fixed in a timely manner.
4. Provide Advancement Opportunities
Another great way to keep employees motivated is to offer opportunities for growth and advancement in your business. While you may or may not have a position immediately open, make sure to remind employees of any advancement opportunities that are available.
There are other ways to help employees view your business as a place where they can grow their career as well. You may consider giving employees extra responsibilities, for example.
These opportunities may include the chance to mentor another staff member, take the lead on a new project, or become a bigger part of your business in some other way.
5. Offer Accounting Employees a Few Extra Perks
When it comes time for tax season, a few very simple things can help keep your accounting employees in a good mood. Especially if your employees are putting in extra hours, it’s important to make them feel a bit more comfortable and offer a few extra perks to keep them motivated.
For example, you may consider providing food or drinks to employees to keep them comfortable and motivated. You may also consider giving employees a small token of appreciation such as small gift card during this time of the year.
Some employers even create a “relaxation zone” in the office that has comfortable seats, music, and magazines, where employees can unwind for a few minutes if they get overwhelmed.
Final Thoughts
Believe it or not, it can be relatively easy to keep employees motivated if you put a little effort in. If you follow some of the tips below you’ll be sure to have a smooth tax season that seems to be over before you, and your employees, know it.
Looking for your next hire? Is it time to add a new member to your accounting team? Contact us today to learn more about what Ingenium can do for your business.
