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UHY is looking to hire across all positions both audit and tax for our office in Melville, Long Island. We the largest book of business in UHY and have grown significantly over the past few years. There is tremendous opportunity for growth and the office is more than just a job. We regularly have golf outings, wine tastings, bbqs at the partners houses and many other events with our team. Anyone who is interested send me a message and I will set up a time to connect and discuss our opportunities UHY Advisors
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I started to write a well-analyzed, thoughtful response. Then, I deleted it. Associates and staff who have regressed and rely on their own entitlement to ignore poor reviews of their performance should be culled from the system. They should be replaced by people who see new opportunity, previously not widely available to them. The more positive attitudes of energized people seeking to create better futures for themselves and their families will benefit our businesses and, equally important, them.
Great post. I agree. The firm is a business. Treat it as such or be left with mediocre and poor financials.
Have you had a conversation with them about their performance and received a response that can help you determine whether this is curable?
This is a pandemic. It’s terribly hard on all of us. Be kind. Don’t fire anyone. Show them love and appreciate. Even going to work is harder than most of us older partners imagine. Kindness will boost production more than anger or frustration.
I want to sympathize with the associates but I’m running myself ragged cleaning up after them and I’m exhausted and short on patience.
I agree with P1. Are there metrics you are using or just a sense they have regressed? There is almost universal regression wfh, it can be depressing. I have had the office open on a voluntary basis since early May. We are 95% attendance and only the pregnant or new moms are still at home but are thrilled to participate via Zoom. Everyone enjoys being back and productivity has resumed. Nothing beats team spirit. If that is not a possibility and you are otherwise indifferent to the subject personnel , let them go, they will only annoy you. If they just need another chance, give them the chance to work together again- safely
Much more productive remotely here.
Some of our staff and associates are just phoning it in. Less work many more mistakes. A few paralegals are billing half the number of hours they did when they were in the office, and the work simply isn’t getting done.
Just fire them, top associate talent is moving around a lot these days.
We’re about to have this discussion. Will try to empathize but we are a business. It’s tough
I understand regression, but working remotely doesn’t allow the under-performers to hide their deficiencies like they could pre-Covid. Of the staff/associates in question were problems there pre-Covid? I went through this with a paralegal from March to June. We tried to rehabilitate with great frustration. We terminated in June and hired the replacement who started late July. Remote training is much easier than I thought it would be. Our entire team has benefited greatly from the change. I agree with the prior comment of firing, is that is the best decision for you, your team and firm.
What do you mean by regress? Work quality? Responsiveness? If it is hours, are there enough hours to go around?
It’s a question a number of us have to address, but first, from my perspective, need to be clear on how it is that they have clearly regressed, how that was determined, and whether the concerns / issues have been raised with them.
We’ve been wfh since April and recently re-opened our offices (with exceptions). During this time various associate hours dropped significantly and some weren’t as responsive or productive or efficient as they had been. But that kind of goes with this Covid territory. To address that, among other things, we
- held regular firm, section, and group virtual meetings, covering tasks and expectations
- held regular virtual happy hours
- made timesheet frequent and monitored for drop offs
- followed up directly with associates and staff who were struggling to see what’s going on.
Don’t know your firm size and how long these associates have been with your firm either. (In our firm, we grow the firm slowly with associates we’ve developed.)
My knee jerk reaction to the just fire them you’re a business thinking is that can be shortsighted depending on the nature of your firm and clients. The firm that just fires its associates because it’s a business develops that reputation and can lose institutional knowledge and relationships with clients, who aren’t big on seeing new associates getting their feet wet on their matters.