Case Overview Which activities be in person/remote? - - - - - - Meetings before audits o Brainstorming/ working session about how the audit will work (once a year, fr each client) Monthly manager meetings o How is the staff o How scheduling is o New ideas/mew efficiencies identified, any challenges Monthly smaller audit meetings o Sharing tips and tricks o Socializing Manager ad partner from different levels o Whiteboarding session to discuss client issues Training throughout the fall Ongoing learning Learning field work o Asking questions o Gathering evidence o Performing audits DONT want to be fully remote DONT want to force everyone in person o Want to eb in the middle o Ideal activities IN office and at home ▪ Do not have to address every activity ▪ Focus on specific activities (that you feel passionate about) ▪ Share case on why certain activities should be in what environment o Second question SHOULD EB CONNECTED to the first Keep collaboration through remote work, which technology can help us with remote communication o Maintain RSM culture ▪ Collaboration is the biggest challenge with remote work o Ideal solution differentiates RSM as an employer ▪ Makes RSM desirable to work for ▪ Want to retain talent (sets RSM apart ▪ Are new in the market place ▪ Strong focus on innovation QNA BITS: Existing technology tools: what tools have RSM been leveraging to engage employees and increase employees - WebEx (similar to zoom/teams) Many videos chat Ones specific for training (with polling, other features, raise hand, lower it) Formal meetings are also there Recruiting events - Find tech to make life easier o Brazen ▪ Like a virtual career fair ▪ Can pick a booth, and go in and can have 1-1 discussions with staff in the company ▪ Easier to track where employees go ▪ To engage with goals ▪ Applicant tracking tools Others - Calendly o Syncs to many other calendars o Good for finding times that suit best to others 3 biggest tech challenges - - WebEx is the biggest challenge o In terms on connecting o Always starting later because everyone is not able to hear everyone (video malfunctions, audio malfunctions Timing o More back and forth to plan meetings o More effort to plan meetings online o More formally asking things instead of being a pop-in to the office o Forced social time (not natural interactions) o Forced to multitask preparing for other meetings while still in one ▪ Not fully committed to task at present What has been the feedback about the current approach (remote working, retransition into altering things again?) What's working, what is not working? How are employees responding to the new things? - In person it is easier to get to know people Interactions are more natural in person People want a hybrid model, not staying just remote Being open to asking question, turning mics on Going well for both ways Current health guidelines - RSM is thinking beyond the pandemic (when the world will come to its feet) Timeline is after/near the confirmed end of COVID Optional approach What are the most common complaints - Work life balance People had different time frames Less ability to turn off People struggled to set boundaries by themselves How much collaboration is involved among the employees, and how much is junior to senior - Did not??? Answer this question??? Just rambled??? Why are you focusing on Gen-Z? What proportion of work force in Gen Z? How close are the new workers to the offices? - Smaller offices spread is NOT a good solution, not part of ideal solutions Sizeable proportion of staff is young Acquisition model mentioned?? Non local employees, what are RSMs expectations of them? - Depends on teams you have Will not hire non local employees not near the office Implementation timeline - Around a year? Not confirmed Finances - Increase or decrease in productivity when remote? o Extremely productive working from home o Financially doing well o Not burning themselves out What budget, financial considerations? - No clue No one knows Solution is not constrained by the budget? Good questions asked in chat: - What have been some of the most common complaints listed to HR? i.e., Mental Health? Workload and Expectations? Opportunities within the company? Accessibility? Tech concerns? Work-life balance? General work environment concerns? - - - - - RSM in January, 2021 had been able to successfully pivot to remote work with outstanding results of their best year of revenue growth of 12-13%. In doing so proving RSM is capable of sustainably working remotely at least based on short term results. Even so, RSM still feels like their young, and new employees are not receiving the training or development opportunities that past generations did. With that information it poses a question of whether RSM would be willing to contribute the capital, and put in effort of moving their Chicago training, and networking that RSM did pre-covid to Canada? (This would be much easier for all employees to attend even from the USA, because of their more relaxed travel restrictions.) What does RSM do that helps it stay competitive against other competing firms? What do you think keeps employees invested and helps RSM retain talent? If an employee wishes to be fully in person, would they be allowed or forced to do work virtually? What strategies have you already implemented to balance remote/in person and how have your employees reacted to them so far? what is the employee satisfaction rate of working at RSM? is there a low turnover rate? How has the introduction of remote talent impacted the culture of the company and the overall performance How satisfied are your current employees with this current employee with this remote set up, is there a massive feeling of wanting to go back to normal or are people more comfortable doing things more remotely and at home Considering that RSM workers are working from home, a good idea for management to consider is to put employees from the same department in breakout rooms designated for that department during the workday. This could potentially resolve the issue of employee’s not being able to be right beside another employee from their department every single day. Furthermore, to make this real will RSM be willing to put in the time, money, and effort in this initiative? Is it worth it for RSM? Have you surveyed the employees to gauge how they are responding to different social activities? What tech tools have you been leveraging during the pandemic? Do you use exclusively Microsoft suite? Do you use JIRA, Miro, Figma, Virbela etc. what tasks do these tools correspond with? Has there been a decrease in employee productivity because of the increase in the use of remote and online methods? Furthermore, how has the companies culture change to fit the needs of its employees?
