Accountants told to mind their HR

Barry Lehrer, founder of DiffuzeHR, said effective human resources procedures and policies can be an enormous advantage when trying to attract high-quality staff.

“It’s not only about retaining the people but it’s about getting the best people to work in your business, and getting the best people means you’re satisfying all their needs and people aren’t only in their for the money, they are in there for job satisfaction and development and so forth too," he said.

“Accounting firms don’t necessarily tend to think that way and I think they need to if they want to stop lamenting about the fact they can’t get good staff.”

Mr Lehrer also warned accountants that a lacklustre approach to human resources can cost them dearly, urging firms of all sizes to ensure they take steps to remain compliant with all workplace laws and obligations.

“It doesn’t matter if you’ve got one employee or 100 employees; it costs an employee $68.50 to take an action against you at the Fair Work Commission.

“You need to be up to date with HR compliance obligations and you need to continue that approach, irrespective of the number of employees you have,” Mr Lehrer said.

“A lot of accountants say to me, 'we don’t have a lot of turnover or people don’t complain because if they complain they’ll never get another job in the industry', and I think a lot of companies that say that to me don’t really understand what the approach is about.”