Dave Cain: Welcome to unsuitable on Rea Radio. The award willing financial services and business advisory podcast that challenges your old school business practices, and the traditional business suit culture.
Dave: Our guests are industry professionals and experts who will challenge you to think beyond the suit and tie, while offering you meaningful modern solutions to help enhance your company’s growth. I’m your host Dave Cain
Dave: By 2020 Millennials will make up one-third of the global workforce. Now we’ve all heard a lot of people with a lot of opinions about millennials. And there are some pretty negative stereotypes out there today. But the fact is these stereotypes, at least for the most part, are really wrong and misguided. We’ll help you out with that today folks.
Dave: For example, a lot of people are quick to assume millennials are lazy, but most of them work more than 40 hours a week. And a good chunk of them will work around 50 hours without batting an eyelash because they want results. Contrary to what you may have heard, there are some really hard-working millennials, and we’re gonna introduce you to a couple of those here in a few minutes.
Dave: We are fortunate to have some really great young talent on our team at Rea & Associates. So we brought them to the podcast to ask them to speak about what attracts them to their job, and what keeps them here. Of course, they will be speaking on behalf of their entire generation. So you know, no pressure guys.
Dave: Sarah Sparks, and Deirdre DiVittis, are two of our younger team members here at Rea. They both work from our firm’s office in Dublin, Ohio. In our state and local tax department, and also as Quickbooks consultants. They also dip their toes in some auditing in tax. So a wide range of experience. I wonder if that’s where the similarities end. Let’s find out.
Dave: Welcome to unsuitable. Deirdra and Sarah.
Deirdra Divittis: Hi Dave, thanks for having us.
Sarah Sparks: Hi Dave, thanks for having us.
Dave: Well good, good. Sorry about the alphabet problem with your name. My notes weren’t quite where they needed to be. But we’ll get those worked out for you. Welcome to unsuitable. We want to welcome you as first time guests to the podcast. Welcome aboard. We’re looking forward to some great insight.
Dave: So Sarah, we’ll start with you. You are in the state and local tax area, also known as the Salt Squad, here at Rea & Associates. Can you tell us a little about what attracted you to that part of your job?
Sarah: So, my background is in accounts payable, accounts receivable and payroll. So I had experience with sales tax and use tax doing that, and industry. I also am going to school to get my paralegal studies degree. So it just made sense to go into tax. And Joe Popp needed a CFF to fill the position.
Dave: So it just hit your skill set at the right time, in the right moment.
Sarah: Yeah.
Dave: So, you know, I think we probably should throw a little bit of disclaimer that neither one of us work in HR, human resources, and this is a bit of an HR slant. So we want to throw that disclaimer out. We’re just gonna talk about fellow colleagues and how to make each other’s job easier. Sound okay, Deirdra?
Deirdra: Sounds great.
Dave: So, you are, just a little background, you spend, what 90% of your time working in the Quickbooks field?
Deirdra: Yeah.
Dave: And is there a particular area you like in Quickbooks more than another?
Deirdra: I’m not really sure what I like more, I guess. I’m certified as a peer-advisor for Quickbooks online desktop and enterprise. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of online work. Just because I have a client that requires a lot of bookkeeping work right now. So I’ve been online mostly, lately. But, I spend a lot of time in Quickbooks.
Dave: So we’re gonna have to have you come back and talk about some Quickbooks at a later date. But, because we’re not gonna dive too deeply into Quickbooks or state and local taxation. But we’ll cover that a little bit. But I need your advice. You guys good at giving advice?
Dave: As you might have guessed, I’m a baby-boomer. And the two of you are millennials. So we have to talk about how we’re gonna work together as a team, as colleagues a little better. So you’re gonna help me with that process. You guys ready for that?
Deirdra: Alright.
Dave: Okay. Deirdra, I’m going to throw this to you. When we need to communicate on engagements, what’s the best way for me to communicate with you?
Deirdra: Email would probably be the best, because if I’m not at my desk, and you need something from me, I can reply to it on my own time. Whenever I’ve available. If I’m in a meeting and you need something, and then I can respond whenever, you’re busy with something. So email is really great.
Dave: You love emails? Okay, so do I have to email you between eight and five? Or can I do it 24/7?
Deirdra: Whenever you want to.
Dave: Okay, 24/7. Okay, I’m going to check that box.
Dave: Sarah, I’m going to throw this to you. In the opening we talked about millennials work 40 hours, 50 hours, they’re kinda working all over the place. Is your job an eight to five job?
Sarah: Currently, yeah. It is here. But previous jobs that I had, no. It was like, you were given a certain amount of work each day that you had to finish. So my weeks looked like 50 to 60 hour weeks before coming to Rea.
Dave: So it’s all over the place. It’s results, it’s not how many hours.
Sarah: Right. But here at Rea, definitely have a better work/life balance.
Dave: So I might have challenges. You work eight to five. I do have a story about you that I want to throw out to you, just to see if what you’re telling the audience is actually true. Accurate content.
Dave: I understand several months ago you, and your team, took a trip to Washington D.C. to listen to a hearing of the Supreme Court on the South Dakota V. Wayfair case. Do I have my facts correct?
Sarah: You do.
Dave: Okay. Was that an eight to five job?
Sarah: That was actually 3:45 in the morning ’til, like, 9:00 at night.
Dave: Okay.
Sarah: For those three days.
Dave: For those three day.
Sarah: Yeah.
Dave: Okay. So it’s all over the place. So let’s go to that. Was that a really professional pleasing trip? Is that something you’ll remember the rest of your life?
Sarah: Definitely, yeah. Just the entire experience. Having to get up at 2:30 in the morning to get ready to go out to the line. We definitely learned how it worked, in case we ever wanted to take another trip back to the Supreme Court. Actually seeing the Justices, there in person. It was completely surreal. Even though we were completely exhausted by 11:00 when we finally got in. We were just so excited. Our excitement kept us awake.
Dave: So from my perspective, as a baby-boomer and a coach in… I have to look to give you opportunities in your day to day work. Would you agree with that?
Sarah: Yeah, definitely. But there should be a balance of letting us dip our toes into things on our own. Have a little bit of autonomy, but still, structured guidance.
Dave: You mean like not bug you to death every hour or so. You got that project done yet?
Sarah: Right.
Dave: You want some freedom?
Dave: So Deirdra, let’s talk a little bit about differences with dress code between millennials and baby-boomers. You have any great insight on dress code? How should I manage that? How should we have a conversation about dress code?
Deirdra: I think that’s a tough question. I come from … My former employer didn’t have a dress code. So sometimes I would wear sweatpants to work. And that was normal. My boss did it to. Here, we have more of a business casual environment. And that’s been a little bit difficult to understand I think. Because that’s such a vague and broad term. A lot of people don’t really understand what that means. Can I wear jeans? Can I not wear jeans? Are flip-flops okay? I think the business casual, kind of catch all, is really hard for a lot of people to understand what that means.
Deirdra: I think if you’re going to have a dress code and that something that, as an employer you’re really concerned about, you should be as specific as you possibly can. Because if you’re just making this vague, just dress business casual. Well, what does that mean? That means something different to everyone. Right?
Dave: So I think you hit on a tremendous topic there that a lot of businesses today do. And that’s their dress code. It’s business casual. But that means many different things to many different folks. As a baby-boomer, that means something other than a coat and tie. And folks in your group, it could be sweatpants and cut-offs and flip-flops.
Dave: Sarah, do you want to add to this dress code? You’re sitting there. You’re just enjoying that conversation that we put Deirdra under the microscope on that. What are your thoughts on dress code?
Sarah: Actually, before coming to Rea, I worked for various different companies that had different dress codes. The first one that I worked for had a business casual dress code. They were pretty clear with what you could and couldn’t wear. What wasn’t considered business casual. That was obviously jeans and flip-flops. The next one that I worked at, we had to wear professional attire. You had to wear heels and a skirt or dress pants. You couldn’t wear khakis.
Sarah: The last one that I worked for before coming to Rea. There was no dress code. You could wear jeans. They actually felt uncomfortable if you dressed up. They got worried. Like, “Oh, are you going to go in for an interview somewhere else?” I think that’s the gauge, the scale.
Dave: Right, so I think our take-away on that, especially dress code, and we get a lot of questions on that is, more definition. More discussion. More definition, versus dictation. Good point. We’ll put that in our notes, and I’m glad our listeners … They’re gonna hear and say “Alright. We’ve been talking about that for many months.” Thanks for that insight.
Dave: I want to switch gears a little bit. Still stay on this millennial versus baby-boomer, and trying to help me out. I don’t know if I’ve caught you guys doing this, but maybe, and I just didn’t know this, and I walk by your desk, and you have headphones on. Or earbuds on. And I’m like “Wow, back in the good old days, you just didn’t do that.” What are you guys listening to while you’re working? Deirdra that’s to you. It’s gotta be George Strait I would think.
Deirdra: At my last job, we were actually encouraged to wear headphones. It was in…, and we’re just looking at invoices all day. So having headphones in does a couple of things from a management perspective. It keeps people from talking to each other… It also, if you’re listening to something uplifting and upbeat, it can actually make you work faster and be more productive. It makes work more enjoyable. So it’s a win/win for management and for employee.
Deirdra: I have actually listened to headphones a couple of times here. Lately I’ve been working on this really big Quickbooks project for a client. Cleaning up the years’ worth of bank recs and other issues that they’ve had with a former employee. It’s helped me to just kinda zone out and focus on “This is the task that I need to do. I need to enter all these deposits. I need to get these bank recs done.”
Dave: Rock ‘n Roll and Quickbooks go together don’t they?
Deirdra: Yep.
Dave: Sarah, what in the world are you listening to as you do the state and local taxation, and register states, talk about this Nexus and sales tax exemptions. You gotta be listening to some really good stuff.
Sarah: Actually I’m just listening to whatever is coming out of the speakers that we have.
Dave: Do you have a say in what’s on the music?
Sarah: Generally no. I don’t have the secret password to get into the IT room.
Dave: You need the secret password huh?
Sarah: Yeah.
Dave: Yeah. So good. Talk to me a little bit about challenges. Can I do a better job challenging you in your job each and every day?
Deirdra: Yes. I think at least from my perspective. A lot of us younger, entry-level people. We really like to be challenged and be given opportunities to try something new. So for example. Meline has a client that has three Schedule C’s that she just kinda tossed me. And, I’ve never done one before. I have no background in tax prep at all. And she’s like “See what you can do with this.” And having that ability to just take a shot at it, is really great. It is really challenging. And there have been times where I’ve been stumped on it. But I always have her or other people in the office that I can go to with questions.
Dave: So being stumped is okay. You’re okay with that?
Deirdra: Yeah, it’s a learning opportunity.
Dave: Okay. Sarah what do you think?
Sarah: Yeah. I definitely have to second that. I like being thrown into the deep end, and see if I can sink or swim. Once you hit a wall, you know when you’ve hit the wall. And you know that’s when it’s time to go check in with your supervisor.
Dave: Okay. So, when I give you a challenge. Throw you in the deep end. How long should I give you, until I kinda check on you? Is there a rule of thumb? This is according to Sarah. There’s no book. I told you we’re not HR professionals.
Deirdra: I guess what we’re relying on you for is to know that. In your experience. You probably have done these things before. You wouldn’t just give us these projects and expect us to know it when you don’t, right? So you should probably be the one gauging.
Dave: Okay, so the message there is better check up on you within a reasonable period of time.
Deirdra: Well yeah. If you give someone a task to do, and you think it’s going to take two hours. It should take two hours. And maybe I’ll say “I’m gonna work on this after lunch.” And if by the end of the day you don’t hear from me, maybe you should check on me before 4:30 rolls around. “Hey, how’s that going?” Sometimes things come up and it does take longer to do a certain task. But check-ins are always appreciated.
Dave: Deirdra, great insights. So more feedback. I can give more feedback on a more continuous basis. That kinda sum that up?
Deirdra: Yeah.
Dave: Be nice about it.
Deirdra: Yeah.
Dave: Nothing grumpy.
Deirdra: Yeah. Definitely.
Dave: Am I grumpy?
Deirdra: No Dave. You’re great. You’re wonderful.
Dave: Thanks. There’ll be a little extra royalty for saying that as soon as the podcast hits the podcast community.
Dave: Let’s talk about coaching and mentoring. Because we’ve touched base a little on a few of those things. Coaching and mentoring has a lot of different meanings to a lot of different groups. And Deirdra, I want to talk to you a little bit, maybe you can tackle this. How do you feel about a strong coaching and mentoring program? Is it something you look forward to? Something you need and want and look forward to on a continuous basis?
Deirdra: I actually really love that about Rea. The formal coaching structure that we have isn’t something that I’ve really experienced before. So whenever I started here, I was planning already on taking some classes at Columbus State this semester so I can get my 150. I’m four credits away. So throughout the summer Kate kinda checked in with me. “Hey, how’s it going? Have you registered for those classes yet?” It’s really nice having somebody holding me accountable so that I can reach my goals too.
Dave: So, very goal oriented. You’re looking for “Hey, let’s get some goals and help me get there?”
Dave: Sarah, what do you think?
Sarah: Yeah, I agree. I really liked, after having my year-end evaluation, I really liked coming up with my goals. I like that we use the smart-goal format. We set up the goal. We have a date on there, make sure that it’s attainable.
Dave: Hey, we just had a question from the audience that came in. You did know that we were allowing open forum questions from the audience. So I’m gonna read this. So this is not my question, but this is from one of our members of the audience here. How do you learn best?
Dave: Sarah, go for it.
Sarah: I think that I definitely learn best by hands-on training. Maybe seeing my trainer do it first, and then trying it myself.
Dave: Okay. Deirdra?
Deirdra: I would have to second that.
Dave: So just, yeah, ongoing support and challenge. Good, okay. We talked about embrace different background, education, training. We talked about that with you guys. We haven’t touched base on this thing called compensation and benefits. When we’re talking about baby-boomers and millennials, do we talk about compensation? Is that a fair conversation we can have on a regular basis? Sarah? You’re like you’re ready to hit me.
Sarah: Really? No.
Dave: I didn’t do your last evaluation.
Sarah: No. Yeah, definitely. I think the year-end reviews are a good time to talk about compensation. There should be a reason to talk about it. You should have evidence of why, if you want a raise, you should get the raise. And there should be a time and place to talk about it. You don’t want to just storm into your bosses office and demand a raise, right?
Dave: Well, probably not the best way to do it. I don’t know. Maybe that’s the way millennials do it. They walk in “Hey, we’re gonna talk about compensation.” I think you hit upon a key point there. Tell me how my performance is going. And tell me about that on an ongoing basis. And let’s have open conversation about compensation.
Dave: Deirdra, anything to add that?
Deirdra: I think that it is a really valuable exercise for employers to schedule time on an annual basis, to have that conversation. And make it an open and transparent as possible conversation.
Dave: What about benefits? How do you feel about benefit packages? Not necessarily raise package, because we do a number of things, but as you entered the workforce and continue to grow in the workforce, are benefits important to you? Sarah, go for it.
Sarah: Yeah, they’ve definitely become more important to me. Before, they were kind of confusing and I just checked the boxes. Okay, I have to have health insurance, I’ll just sign off or whatever.
Dave: Check the box.
Sarah: But now, starting my family. I just got married this summer. So I actually started thinking about what kind of benefits do I need for the future and who needs to be on my plan and stuff. How do I get the plans changed? So yeah, those benefits have definitely become more important to me.
Dave: So if I understand that, initially, as you entered the workforce and entered with Rea, probably not at the top of the list. There were other things you were looking for, that you describe. But as, I don’t want to say mature, that’s not the correct use because you guys are mature, very mature, but as you developed in the workforce and started raising a family and expanding the family, benefits became way more important.
Dave: Deirdra, anything to add on the benefit front?
Deirdra: I agree with what Sarah said. I also think it’s worth noting that, because of recent legislation, a lot of us younger people are still under our parents insurances. And so, we’re in our mid to late twenties. So that definitely has an impact on that conversation. When I graduated from college I definitely wasn’t worried about benefits because I was still on my mom’s health plan. But now that’s changed for me.
Dave: So that’s been a change in your thinking as you’ve advanced through your career path. So again, I want to kinda summarize a few things we’ve talked about that are important to you. Earbuds and music for a few distractions along the way. Just not white noise and so forth. That should be fine. Benefits, certainly on the increase for your colleagues as you get into your profession. Opportunities are important. Challenges are important. Coaching and mentoring are important.
Dave: Out of all we’ve talked about, if you’re mentoring … let’s turn this around. And you’re mentoring me, as a baby-boomer, what two things are you gonna tell me to work on this next year in how we communicate or work together? Sarah, you’re up.
Sarah: Alright.
Dave: Two things.
Sarah: So the two things I’d say are, definitely be patient with us as we learn. And also, just keep the door open so that we can come in and ask questions, invite questions.
Dave: Okay. Deirdra?
Deirdra: Alright. I really like what Sarah said about keeping the door open. I think that particularly in my past work experience, not being able to go to your supervisor and ask for help, and ask for “Hey, can you explain this for me so that I understand it, so I know not to make that mistake again next time?” That’s huge.
Dave: Do you guys really think there’s a big disparity between baby-boomers and millennials like we hear about?
Sarah: Definitely not. No.
Dave: Overrated?
Sarah: Yeah. I think that stereotype us definitely overrated for sure.
Dave: Some companies maybe.
Sarah: Yeah, but here in the public accounting sector, at Rea specifically, everybody it just seems, we’re treated equally. We’re treated all like peers, even when you’re interacting with your boss and stuff.
Dave: So Deirdra, anything to … we’re gonna bring this podcast home. Anything to add to that?
Deirdra: We’ve actually talked about this at lunch. And we were talking about, is our experience that we’re having in our twenties really any different than a baby-boomer’s experience in their twenties? The conclusion that we came to was times are different, technology’s different, but our wants are still the same. We still want to buy houses. And we still want go to work and have full-time jobs and have careers.
Dave: So do you mind if I ask you a Quickbooks question before we leave this? I know we’re not supposed to ask Quickbooks on this. Look they’re waving at me.
Deirdra: That was your rule.
Dave: No, no Quickbooks question. What’s your favorite version to work with clients? Is it the online version or desktop?
Deirdra: I like desktop better.
Dave: You like desktop better.
Sarah: Yeah, I second that.
Dave: That question wasn’t towards you.
Sarah: Sorry. I just had to throw that in there. Desktop is the best.
Dave: Our guests to day have been Sarah and Deirdra with Rea & Associates here in Dublin, Ohio. As you can see, and the listeners can hear, we have some tremendous talent. And I was very pleased to introduce the podcast community to both of you. I hope that you both will come back again. And we can talk about the same topic or dive into registering Nexus applications in various states. Boy, that sounds exciting.
Sarah: Looking forward to it.
Dave: Look forward to it. Well, thanks again for joining us today. I’ve enjoyed talking to you. You certainly provided me with some great insight into the millennial mindset. Not all that different than mine. Again, I appreciate that. I hope other business leaders will consider what we talked about today as well.
Dave: Listeners, in addition to today’s team of millennials, we’ve have some really great guests on the show. Talking about the changing workforce and how to identify top talent. I encourage you to check out these past episodes as well as some of the other great resources we have on our page at Reacpa.com/podcast.
Dave: Did you enjoy today’s episode? Let us know. Like it, comment on it or share it. And don’t forget to check out videos of our podcast on YouTube. Until next time, I’m Dave Cain, encouraging you to loosen up your tie, and think outside the box.
Disclaimer: The views expressed on unsuitable and Rea Radio are own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Rea & Associates. The podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. And is not intended to replace the professional advice you would receive elsewhere. Consult with a trusted advisor about your unique situation so they can expertly guide you to the best solution for your specific circumstance.