Amanda Kenafake and Power Tynan have been continually evolving their employee experience and have been recognised as the Employer of Choice by the Chamber of Commerce for their achievements to date. Amanda has a progressive approach when it comes to leading the firm which is underpinned by the principle “if we look after our people, then the people look after the clients and the clients look after the business.”
In a recent webinar with Everperform, hosted by Xero, Amanda described some of the ways she and Power Tynan have been able to buck the trend of an industry that see’s talent retention and attraction as a significant threat to performance and growth over the coming months and years. When asked what the key to combating this challenge is she responded “it's not a one size fits all model”. Personalisation is the only way forward with regards to the Employee Experience, with working wellbeing solutions ranging from gym and yoga memberships to fruit bowls and Zoom comedy, it's hard to know exactly what will work for your people. Unless you ask.
Implementation of workplace initiatives like ‘flex time’ and ‘recharge days’ are empowering the employees at Power Tynan to take control of their work life, to feel empowered and trusted to know what works best for them and at times, look after themselves by taking time away from work if necessary. This means that there is a culture of employees being able to use their time to tend to family matters, liking school pick up and drop off, or simply taking a day off if they need it to recover and reset.
Power Tynan is consistently improving on their own lofty standards, and this is evident when we compared their results to the Performance Index powered by Everperform, which is an aggregation of more that 400,000 data points across our clients.
It starts from the top, as Amanda put it “there’s no point in me saying dont work 60 plus hour weeks, and then turning around and work 70 or 80 myself.” In short, saying that you want to have a company that has good work/life balance is one thing, living it is another.
But it didn't happen overnight and it has been a 4 or 5 year journey for Power Tynan to build the culture that is fostered within the building today. So what's the first step?
Well it begins with accountability and conversations, everyone has to be clear what their job is, that their job is important and then delivering on those expectations. ‘We all have to work as a team, so that we're a strong team going out together to deliver to our clients.’
Equally important is that leadership is willing to stand behind their messaging, that they are willing to live and breathe the culture that they want from their people, and that they are consistent from message to action. That is Authentic Leadership in action or as Amanda says the alternative is, ‘If you honestly don't believe in this as a leader yourself, and you're going to live it every day, don't be bothered.’
Across the industry the message is clear, accountants, advisors and professionals are struggling and our index is reflecting that.
One Everperform client put it eloquently, 'In the accounting industry we are getting absolutely no rest and clients are getting more demanding without even knowing they are doing it.’
Looking to industry leaders like Power Tynan for assistance when it comes to improving the employee experience is incredibly valuable. But Amanda isn't settling there, they are consistently challenging us at Everperform to find the next iteration of high performance, asking new questions, exploring new opportunities, but all with the backdrop of taking care of their people first. The financial outcomes will look after themselves.
