Good to start off with but don’t let them fool you - Associate Kirk Rice Employee Review

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us about your time here at Kirk Rice. We’re sorry you didn't have a great experience and it's true that working within accountancy isn’t for everyone. We are a fast-paced and growing firm, and we do ask our team members to be adaptable as we seek to provide excellent client service. in an industry that has changed dramatically over the last few years. It is an exciting and challenging time to be in the financial sector. Firstly, thank you for your positive remarks regarding our apprenticeship programmes, we are very proud of our reputation for providing first class training and professional qualifications for our people. As well as AAT qualifications, we are also platinum-approved ACCA training providers, and approved ICAEW training providers. In addition, our learning partners at First Intuition were declared Skills Provider of the Year in 2022, having been shortlisted the year before. We do receive a great deal of positive feedback regarding our training programmes. We do offer hybrid working, thank you for noting this, and we know from employee feedback that our teams appreciate this flexibility. We are also acutely aware however, that a number of our trainees have advised us that they prefer to be largely office-based, both for their learning and development within their role, as well as telling us that they enjoy the socialisation. Hybrid is a learning curve for all businesses and one size simply does not fit all. We will continue to communicate directly with our teams to ensure that hybrid is working for both our people and our business. We benchmark our salaries, and we know from employee feedback that our salaries are highly competitive; we do believe in a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. As indicated in addition to a competitive starting salary, our trainees also receive regular salary and performance reviews as they develop their on-the-job knowledge. Any overtime which may be available is offered on a strictly voluntary basis and our trainees are paid for any additional hours that they may choose to work. We note your comment regarding the salary review process, however any review awarded takes effect on either 1 May or 1 November each year, so we do have a defined process in place and we are as transparent about our trainee salaries as possible. Salaries may vary depending on qualifications and experience. In recent employee feedback, our own people anonymously scored Kirk Rice as attaining a 78% positive response for business culture, 93% for their experience of their own team, 85% for personal development opportunities as well as a 78% positive score for wellbeing. Although delighted by this, we are still keen to improve upon these results further, we note your comments and should you wish to discuss them more fully, then please do not hesitate to get in touch. Within Kirk Rice, our Partners are very approachable and many sit directly amongst their teams, offering the opportunity for direct communication, collaboration, and development. Regarding your comments related to HR, as well as our HR Manager we also have an HR Partner who sits on the Board and who can be approached at any time. Either of us can contacted for assistance as and when needed, and again, we would be more than happy to discuss your concerns with you, should you wish to make contact with us. Thanks again for taking the time to leave this review and we wish you all the best in your future career.