Worker output is clearly on the decline. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, worker output fell 7.5% in the first quarter of 2022, the most significant decline since 1947. Meanwhile, researchers at Harvard Business School and New York University found that workplace meetings increased 13% during the pandemic and the number of attendees per meeting grew by nearly 14%. Bottom line: As a result of poor collaboration and inefficient work practices, productive time has declined for most organizations, researchers concluded.
With today’s low unemployment rate, accounting firms bemoan the talent shortage. But that doesn’t mean staffers have all the leverage in our industry. A lot of things that accounting firms do are job-specific tasks that lend themselves to the gig economy.
Let me explain.
If you want to work from home and have flexibility about when and where you do your work, that’s fine. You can work for firms anywhere in the country without having to relocate. Accounting firms get it. But if firms are going to commit to remote workers, then why wouldn’t they hire independent contractors anywhere in the U.S., if not the world, to do specific jobs only when they need those jobs done? And then stop paying them when the assignment is complete?
In fact, firms can hire extremely smart, highly motivated workers anywhere in the world to do specific tax and accounting tasks, usually for less money than U.S. workers demand. Gone are the days of having people on your payroll just to have them around.
Increasingly, contract workers are paid on the productivity they deliver — not just for showing up on time — and we have all kinds of metrics and tracking to make remote work more efficient. So, if you want the convenience of working from home, eventually you may end up like a freelancer and will be paid and measured based on your output.
In this landscape, are you the smartest, hardest working, most efficient person your employer can find — anywhere in the world — to do a particular job? To make sure the answer is yes, you need to keep your skills sharp and focus on delivering value daily. It helps to start thinking like a scrappy entrepreneur rather than like an employee.
Let’s say you’re running a large CPA firm with seven full-time people in your marketing department, each earning full salaries and benefits. If you need a last-minute brochure designed for a job fair, how much would that cost in full-time staff time? Or you could bid the job out on Fiverr and have the brochure done perfectly for less than $100 — just a day or two later.
When will firms start offloading their extra workload to independent contractors two or three times per year — and then stop paying them until they need them again during the next crunch period? Sooner than you might think.
What does that mean for full-time accounting firm team members who don’t like seasonal ups and downs in their workload?
Benefits of a gig economy
The gig economy offers many opportunities for accounting firm team members to ask themselves: “What kind of firm is the best fit for me anywhere in the country?” But by the same token, employers can say, “Which type of workers are the best fit for our firm anywhere in the country, if not the world?” The onboarding is digital. Much of the relationship building and camaraderie is done on Zoom. Whether you’re a full-time remote employee or a full-time gig economy worker, your future is up to you. No longer can you depend on your employer (or boss) to take care of your career.
If you want to avoid coming into the office daily, that’s great. Just ask yourself how much difference there is between you working remotely and a remote worker in Nebraska or Nepal (with a Ph.D.) who can do the same job for the same pay if not less?
Here’s a quick example of the gig economy at work. Not too long ago, I needed to have a big spreadsheet built right away. It wasn’t exceptionally complex work, but there was no one available at my firm available to work on it when I needed it to be done. So, I found a foreign Ph.D. on an online freelance exchange, and he turned the job around in about three hours, and I paid him about $60.
Everyone likes to think they’re irreplaceable at their firm, but unless you’re bringing in the business or managing client relationships, is that really true? The actual work component at accounting firms is becoming increasingly automated, or it’s being put out to bid. “Who is going to do this work, as cost effectively as possible, on the quickest turnaround?” The winner could be anyone in the world.
Technology is going to continue to drive firms in this direction. And the ultimate winners will be clients.
You may love the flexibility of working out of your home office for the next 20 years. Just keep in mind what that might entail. Technology can’t replace business development, direct client communication, or solving complex problems. But if much of your job is something that can be automated, anticipate that soon it will be automated.
You have lots of competition and will be measured carefully on everything you produce. But if you can learn to write, communicate, ask good questions, and solve problems, your future is bright.
How does your firm hire and set team member expectations? I’d love to hear from you.
