11 Keys to Staff Retention

by Rick Telberg/On Careers

They say, "Money isn't everything. But it helps!"

For finance and accounting professionals, salary and compensation, while important, don't factor into job-satisfaction significance as much as intellectual challenge, meaningful work, a balanced life and a clear-cut career path.

Often, office-management style issues make the difference between keeping and losing a valued staffer. And that can be well within the control of partners and managers.

To be sure, the profession as a whole understands and is aggressively attacking the retention problem — none with more vigor than some exemplary firms and the AICPA itself. 

But many other managers must take the time to ask staffers what they like and loathe about their jobs.

We did just that at accounting workplaces across the country. From what they say, we've devised 11 clues to the remedies. Here is a primer:

Lesson 1: Perks count. "Pay raises are nonexistent here, so the little things are BIG," an accounting department staffer in business and industry told us