A recent insight article published by the ICAEW1 raises the possibility of de-risking new hires in the accountancy market by implementing football style contracts. The proposed contracts would lock new hires into the firm for a defined period, or provide compensation in the form of a pseudo transfer fee, payable by the candidate’s future employer, or even the candidate themselves. The suggestion in the article is that more of a two way street between employer and employee, using signing on fees with agreed progression structures may combine to be “the answer to hanging onto your best people against a backdrop of huge attrition”.
At The VAT Team we are all for innovative ways to deal with staffing woes in the accountancy professions, and since the article is aimed at the sector as a whole, we decided to unpack the analysis from a VAT perspective, with the help of Guy Barrand, Director at BLT and leading recruitment consultant in the indirect tax market.
Lack of available VAT consultants for demand
The problem that this new style contract seeks to solve is the issue of short tenure staff, whereas the VAT consultancy market is not experiencing “The Great Resignation” that may be prevalent in other roles. Interestingly, the VAT recruitment world seems to be suffering from the opposite – in a less willingly mobile consultant population – particularly in the higher ranking positions. Commenting on his experiences Guy tells us “most organisations have done very well at looking after Indirect Tax staff welfare over the last few years – so much so that this has engendered greater loyalty from firms’ existing employee population. Individuals are more reluctant to move jobs”.
So, it is actually a more static VAT consultant population coupled with newly created VAT roles and a relatively high proportion of VAT consultants entering the “retirement zone” is the overriding cause of the lack of recruitable talent.
It is difficult, therefore, to see how football style contracts would do anything other than alienate potential candidates, and may make filling the holes within firms’ indirect tax departments practically impossible.
Looking further afield
A more realistic approach within the indirect recruitment market may, at least in the short term, come from overseas. Guy tells us that much like the Premier League, large professional services firms with big international networks are starting to contemplate looking for talent beyond UK and European shores to get any empty boots filled (particularly at the junior grades). The biggest problem is that firms remain reluctant to sponsor VISAs for those with non-European VAT career histories, and the learning curve both from a technical as well as professional culture perspective is usually seen as too big a barrier. On this Guy tells us that “some large firms are starting to import ‘known quantities’ into the UK from their offices in other parts of the globe, particularly if they have that elusive Indirect Tax technology skillset that’s rarely found on European shores.” With such a disparity between the available and mobile VAT talent, with the right level of experience and knowledge, and the open VAT roles (seemingly growing daily), we agree with the sentiment in the article, that companies are starting to have to think of different ways to meet their growth aspiration plans.
An Alternative solution to unavoidable staffing gaps
Our experience suggests that many full service accountancy firms have either started to investigate, or are already heavily utilising, outsourcing to meet demand. Whether that’s providing “in part” role fulfillment or in some cases, full service line provision. In our client dealings, The VAT Team have experienced a willingness and appetite, possibly driven by necessity in terms of retaining their “full service provision” offering, of accountancy firms outsourcing more than the traditional more administrative functions.
Do we think football style contracts are the answer to filling the VAT consultant gaps in firms?
In a word – No.
Guy comments that “Anything that intimates a shorter term commitment than permanent hiring for both the employee and employer is likely to be viewed with raised eyebrows, particularly if any contract stipulates a fee for any early departure (payable either by any new employer or indeed the candidate themselves). Candidates would see it as a real own goal when faced with any contract that would involve giving away a (financial) penalty!”. We would agree, and like Guy feel that firms looking to introduce this style of contact for VAT consultancy roles is likely to place lower in the candidate’s desire to work for that firm.
Whilst we can’t really see the football style contracts working in the VAT market, we at The VAT Team recognise the value of some of the reasons suggested for implementing these contracts, and have incorporated them into our own VAT consultant recruitment structure. In particular the point raised in the article about having a clear progression structure for employees, tailorable to the individual. Offering traditional style contracts, but with a focus within the recruitment system of setting out the career progression plan an pathways; identification of training, monitoring and coaching needs; as well as a clear set of role expectations and KPI’s, we feel is the way to stand out to prospective VAT consultants in the marketplace.
If your firm is suffering from a lack of VAT capacity and you would like to explore the benefits of using The VAT Team’s specialist white labelled VAT support, please contact us.
