CPA Practice Advisor - 5

THE MILLENNIAL ADVISOR

Is Remote Forever?

The Upcoming Remote vs. On-site Culture War
GARRETT WAGNER, CPA

CEO/Founder, C3 Evolution Group
garrett.wagner@cpapracticeadvisor.com

We are seeing around the country that accountants have begun
heading back to their actual offices.
As many shift back to the office, it
begs the question, does being in the
office still matter or are we heading
back to the past? Is your boss again
demanding face time and the old
school belief, if you are not in your
seat you are simply not working?
In the near future, we will see a
test of two wills in the culture war of
accounting: the remote model versus
the face time system, which side will
you land on?

THE END OF FACE TIME?
The old school mentality centers
upon the office. You attend meetings
and show that you have a presence.
The more the boss can physically see
you in and around the hallways, the
more productive you are viewed as
an employee.
Visibility equals output.
How many hours you bill will
always matter, but in the face time
system, sitting at a desk increases
your intrinsic value. Billable hours
hold more meaning when your
physical presence can be seen by
others. Your value isn't tied to the
qualify of your work, but your ability
to sit in a desk.
One major f law of the face
time system is that it does not
matter what you might be doing
at your desk. Both your peers and
the bosses are pleased to see you
in your assigned seating. That is
the longstanding tradition of your
profession. What you are doing is

ONCE UPON A time, working from home was a treat, a privilege for the chosen few. Since
COVID-19, work-at-home instantly became the de facto way businesses stayed open for business.
With this new shift a new focus emerged on managing
people on the team, but will this future last?
nice. Showing up and staying put
is better.
Indeed, the face time system
has led to a great many accountants
becoming Zen masters at minesweeper and solitaire, as they rack
up brownie points for being present
and accounted for.

THE NEW MEASURE OF
PRODUCTIVITY
The sudden shift into remote work
demanded organizations adopt a
rapid shift in how they operated
overnight. Rather than mere presence in the office, organizations
were forced into managing remote
teams and people. Which begged the
question, what does productivity
mean when we cannot see you in a
cubicle? How much more valuable
is a person's digital responsiveness,
compared to physical proximity
outside an office door?
As managers exper ienced
their people net of proximity and
appearances, something radical
happened. People were judged on
responsiveness and the quality of
those responses. If a manager can
email, text or videoconference, get
high-integrity answers and move
onward and upward-that means
everything. Certainly, it is more
important than how they dress, a
flashy smile or the convenient location of their chair down the hallway.
This is the new measure of productivity. In fact, depending upon
your culture, it may mean something
different for each employee depending upon their department and role.

The key is to work within
your company in such a
way that your productivity goals each and every
week are made clear to
your peers.
This idea of clarity
between those around you
will make the differences
between working remote
versus onsite wholly irrelevant.
Candidly, isn't that where we are
today? We stand at an inflection
point in work cultures: management
simply may never care where you
sit, provided you are available and
produce results.
So, do you need to complete
certain audit sections or a certain
number of tax returns? Do you need
to follow up with five clients per day
to ensure they are well-situated?
Your productivity goals are
unique to you. Set up time with
your boss. Brainstorm and align
yourselves on some productivity
goals, then write them down. There
is no one better than you, right now,
to design how your year-end review
is going to read.

HOW TO OWN YOUR
FUTURE
With clearly written goals, it falls on
you to meet them. To succeed in the
shift from the face time system, into
lasting and successful work-at-home,
taking full responsibility for your
goals is a vital step. This means clear
goals that you make transparent to
your manager and those around you.
That way, everyone knows you are

OCTOBER 2020 ■

busy, why, and how well you are
performing. Questions, anyone?
Then, if you are looking for
brownie points, check in each
Wednesday with your boss. Give
your boss a progress report. If
you needed to complete seven tax
returns that week, and you completed five by midweek, let your
boss know.
Yes, this may mean you may get
more returns assigned to you. But
it demonstrates that you are on top
of things-you are the go-to person.
On the flip side, if you only wrapped
up two returns by Wednesday, give
your boss a heads-up on reasons
for pace of the work. Perhaps these
returns were missing information,
or the clients are particularly slow
to respond. Maybe you and your
boss agree to take on some different
returns, move those forward, as the
slow movers slip into the next week.
Whether projects pace ahead or
fall behind, be the great communicator-the one who does not keep your
manager awake at night. Own your
work, own your goals, and you will
own your future. ■

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