When you are a public accounting firm, your service is your people.

"We don't sell widgets -- we 'sell' the expertise of our people and providing clients with the knowledge they need to grow and manage their business," says Craig Roskos, managing partner of Ernst & Young LLP's Winnipeg office.

The downtown office is one of the multinational's 14 Canadian locations, with 90 people providing assurance (auditing and accounting) as well as tax and business advisory services to a wide cross-section of public and private business clients in Manitoba and parts of Saskatchewan.

"Without costly equipment to buy or products to manufacture, it truly means that our company's most valued assets are the ones driving home every night."

It also means that investing in people generates the biggest payoff. Part of the Ernst & Young philosophy is to provide effective training, believing that if people don't grow both as individuals and professionals, neither will the organization.

"If we have the best-trained, smartest, most motivated people possible, we will be able to provide the best client service and continue growing our business," Roskos says. "Helping them succeed in their career path helps our organization to succeed."

Q: What are you doing to make your organization stand out as a great place to work?

A: Training is extremely important to us and we know that in order to grow as an organization, we need our people to grow as well. One of the keys to this is providing structured, focused career development through what we call Ernst & Young University, or EYU for short. It's a unique approach that takes a deliberate look at not only what technical training people need, but how we leverage that training by giving them the right opportunities and experiences they need to build their skills. This includes matching employees with counsellors to ensure our people get the right experiences and the mentoring support they need to put their training to use and become successful professionals. Through EYU, Ernst & Young takes the initiative to make sure this is available, while expecting people to take advantage of the opportunities being provided to them.

In addition to EYU, another training resource we utilize is Harvard ManageMentor, an online management support system that covers a host of topics from budgeting to project management to writing skills. By completing the prescribed modules, individuals can earn an Ernst & Young/Harvard Business Management Certificate and an Advanced Management Certificate. It just goes to show that one of the best things about starting your career at a public service firm like ours is that you never really stop learning.

Q: But isn't there a risk in investing in people's development if they're only going to leave the company someday?

A: The nature of being an accounting/advisory firm is that we are training new professionals with the understanding that while many of them will stay with us and develop a career in professional services, others will leave to work in industry or the public sector. I have always said, "Look, if you want to leave or are interested in trying something new, then talk to us openly about it." We might be able to offer insight about the organizations they are considering or may know of opportunities within other organizations. There may also be greater opportunities for them if they stay and obtain a few more years of managerial experience with us as it enables them to enter another organization at a more senior level. We don't try to discourage anyone or make things uncomfortable because they'll always be an alumnus. If we treat them well, hopefully they'll continue thinking highly of us when they're out in industry.

Q: How important is your alumni to the growth and evolution of your business?

A: Our business is about gathering business, so staying in touch to our alumni is important. We have an alumni newsletter and invite them to join us and leaders from the business community for events like professional development sessions. We also regularly go back to them when we're looking for talent. In some cases, these efforts have created "boomerang" employees who have gone out into industry, gathered broader experience and an understanding of what it's like to work on the other side of the table and then choose to come back to public practice. We welcome the opportunity to have alumni return to our organization, as they understand our processes and culture and because they've stayed in contact with people here, they're already well-connected.

Q: As accountants traditionally work long hours, what is your firm doing to ensure a better work-life balance for its people?

A: We've created a flexible work environment, realizing that people need the flexibility to achieve their personal and their professional goals. That means we need to better understand and accommodate their non-work priorities by having a reduced workload, working from home, taking a longer lunch to go to the gym or being able to leave to attend a child's school function. At the same time, people need to appreciate that this arrangement is a two-way street. The firm gives people the right to work flexibly, but each of our employees has a responsibility to their clients and to their colleagues to balance the needs of others. Flexibility is not just about balancing the things that our people have going on in their lives, it's about empowering them and trusting them to make the right choices. Do we have the formula to work-life balance perfected yet? No. We're always working on it, trying to understand it and learning to manage it better.

Q: What practices has your firm introduced that you consider innovative for this market?

A: In an effort to align our benefits with the flexible working environment we provide, we reimburse employees up to $1,000 annually for fitness expenses. It started out as being limited to gym memberships, but after our people told us they preferred other forms of exercise from attending hot yoga classes to playing hockey to taking trapeze lessons, we listened and extended the benefit to include home gym equipment, golf green fees, smoking cessation classes and a wide variety of other opportunities. It's a good example of why we encourage our leaders to be active listeners by asking others what they think about our approach to solving problems. Gathering employee feedback often enhances the original idea, whether it is expanding the fitness reimbursement program, ensuring there are free healthy snacks available in the lunchroom during our hectic season or improving our everyday activities and strategic planning processes.

Q: What qualities do you look for in your current and future leaders?

A: We're looking for people who can balance the three pillars of our strategy: people, quality client service and growing our business. We want leaders who thrive on diversity and who actively fight "group think." By that, I mean leaders who are not afraid to be challenged and are able to challenge and inspire others to do their best. This is a challenging environment to work in, so they need to be broad minded and willing to work with their team to find solutions, then take those solutions and build them into a consensus that encourages people to work together. People skills are essential, as our staff is a representation and extension of our firm. We want them to always leave a good impression because our business is all about relationships and reputation.

-- With reporting by Barbara Chabai

John McFerran, PhD, F. CHRP, is founder and president of People First HR Services Ltd. For more information, visit www.peoplefirsthr.com.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 3, 2010 I1