Rhonda Klosler was a first-year university co-op student in 1989 when she started at the accounting firm that was to become RSM Canada.
Through several iterations, the company’s focus has always been on middle-market clients and on cultivating a staff who wanted to work directly with business owners. By 2017, the Toronto-based firm, with $50 million in revenue and 300 employees, was ready to go national. By joining with a global brand, RSM Canada was born.
But the company didn’t really change. “The reason I never left was because of the culture,” says Klosler, now chief operating officer of a company that is on the way to $135 million in revenue this year. “I’ve had the great fortune to have people who mentored me and influenced my career, so that’s my impetus.
“I want to continue that,” she adds. “I want my legacy to be an organization where people really feel they can show us their best authentic selves.”
That aspect of the culture was what drew Daniel Booth to the company. He joined three years ago to build out the campus recruiting team. “I’m a single father of a three-year-old daughter, and family and flexibility are very important to me,” says Booth, who leads the team. “And as an out gay individual, I need to feel comfortable with who I am.”
For Booth, it’s a ripple effect – the culture at RSM Canada truly flows from the top down. Among other things, partners took a pay cut during the pandemic to help support staff. The company also provided counselling not only for employees but also for their family members and started a weekly series of tips and tools called Mental Health Minutes.
“People are all feeling stressed, including myself,” says Klosler. “And when a leader shares that, that creates a safe place for people to talk about how they’re really feeling. It has a dramatic impact on our people and our culture.”
Driving the culture are the “Five C’s” – behaviours the company expects everyone to follow. “Be caring, be curious, be collaborative, be courageous and be critical thinkers,” Klosler says. “We feel if we as leaders and our people are demonstrating the five C’s, then we’re creating a culture that’s unique and special. And it’s not just how we interact with each other, it’s how we interact with our clients.”
At RSM Canada, 12 employee network groups give staff a space to be with others who share their interests or their backgrounds. There are groups for Hispanic employees, for Asian, Black and LGBTQ2+ employees, for Women in Leadership, for celebrating diversity in religion and more. “You can either be part of the community or be an ally,” Booth explains.
While each group has its own fundraisers, community involvement at RSM Canada goes much further than just raising money. There are volunteer days, an action advisory team focused on building a diverse workforce, and work with Junior Achievement of Central Ontario, among other things.
“There’s never a shortage of ways to get involved at RSM,” Booth says “and never a shortage of ways to take on a leadership role, whether you’re a partner or an intern. People are able to take on activities and develop their own identity and their own leadership style.”
All the big accounting firms provide tax and consulting services, Booth notes. It’s culture that makes the difference. “We have a slogan, ‘The Power of Being Understood,’” he says. “That’s not something that’s just slapped up on the wall. That’s something we actually live by.”
