Let’s talk shop and bump your earnings 2-3 percentage points. I spent 25 years in professional services. I know the business. What I’m proposing below applies regardless of your industry—the KPIs change, but the impact is real. There’s gold in them hills.

What I’m seeing everywhere:

• Turnover running 19-20% (you’d rather see 15-16%)
• High performers interviewing elsewhere
• New hires taking 6-12+ months to become truly productive
• Growth opportunities benched due to talent constraints
• Learning functions measuring activity instead of impact

Those talent challenges are directly undermining your financial targets.

Sure, you probably at least have an inkling these things are happening.  The question is why you keep treating predictable business problems as unavoidable costs.

Below, find the Four Problems you’ve normalized, Three Opportunities with ROI calculations, and a Path Forward that works for any size operation.

I’ve spent the bulk of my career as a talent development leader, heading up national and global L&D functions for Deloitte and RSM as well as smaller boutique firms. I wasn’t just building programs—I sat next to and across from leaders like you, devising ways to net the returns I’m mentioning in this post. I’ve seen what works, what doesn’t, and what gets rationalized away as “just how things are.”

The Investment Math That’s Broken

In a services industry, let’s accept that people are the product and learning is akin to product development.  Professional services firms invest around 1.5% of revenue on development².  It might get up to 3%. Just for fun….consider Coca-Cola spends 22% on product development³—for a product unchanged since 1886 (New Coke disaster aside).

Unfair comparison? Absolutely. Different margins, cash flows, scaling, and business models. (Other industries have their own benchmarks, but the core issue remains.) This should at least provoke some though.  Maybe you can’t move that percentage needle dramatically. But can you do it better? Can people development become a margin enhancer instead of a cost?

Your people are your product. The question isn’t how much you invest, but whether it actually improves earnings.

The real damage: Every professional who walks out costs 1.5-2x their salary⁴. 75% of turnover is preventable⁵. For a firm with 20% margins⁸, losing five $80K professionals costs $600K-$800K in replacement expenses—a 3-4% bottom-line hit on a $20M operation.

This isn’t a leaky bucket anymore—it’s a hemorrhage.

Four Problems You Might Have Normalized

1. Retention Drift
→ Could boost earnings 1.5-2.5%

• Industry standard: 19-20% turnover
• Most executives accept this as “normal” •
• Moving to 15-16% on a $30M firm = $480K-$750K in avoided costs annually •
• Flows almost directly to bottom line •

The math changes a bit across industries—different salary benchmarks, but same replacement cost principles

2. Speed to Proficiency
→ Could improve earnings 1.25%

• You get people “billable” in 2-4 months
• Let’s be honest: “billable” ≠ “profitable”
• True proficiency takes 6-12+ months
• Each month of extended supervision on a $150K associate costs $12.5K in lost productivity
• Accelerating by two months across 10 hires = $250K savings = 1%+ bottom-line boost

3. Scale Limitations
→ Directly caps revenue growth

• Growth constrained by missing skills for new solutions
• Opportunities benched because current team can’t execute
• Creates ceiling on top-line and profitability expansion

4. Learning Function Waste
→ Pure overhead with questionable ROI

• Internal L&D measures training hours and satisfaction scores
• Investing in activity, not outcomes
• Creating costs without measurable returns

Three Strategic Opportunities

Companies making targeted investments during uncertainty emerge stronger⁷. This isn’t about massive spending—it’s about strategic choices impacting your bottom line.

1. Retention Excellence
→ 0.75-1.5% earnings boost from 1% improvement

• Even 1% retention improvement on a $50M firm saves $375K-$750K annually
• Top performers have options—retention improvements flow directly to profitability
• This math holds across industries: accountants, consultants, software developers, financial advisors

2. Accelerated Proficiency
→ Compounding returns with faster contribution

• Small increments in time-to-value (billing) create measurable impact
• Even one month acceleration per hire compounds across hiring volume
• Reduces overhead burden of extended supervision

3. Scale Capability
→ Revenue expansion without proportional headcount increases

• Build skills for new services/solutions
• Remove growth constraints
• Expand what you can deliver and win

Path Forward

Focus on high-impact initiatives:

• Target leverage points: New roles, top performers, client-facing professionals
• Measure what matters: Time-to-productivity, retention rates, margin contribution
• Micro-pilot and iterate: Small tests, clear ROI metrics, fail fast, scale what works

Bottom Line

The most successful firms recognize learning isn’t discretionary expense—it’s infrastructure enabling margin expansion and profit growth.

You can keep treating talent challenges as business costs. Or acknowledge that systematic development isn’t overhead—it’s competitive advantage flowing directly to your bottom line.

Your people are watching. So are competitors. And increasingly, private equity partners focused on operational excellence and earnings optimization.

The question: Can you afford to keep losing the talent war while telling yourself you’re winning the business game?

This Is Fixable

I’ve helped firms shave up to 10% off their attrition stats and cut time to market (billable) by 25%.  In one case it was over 60%!  I build scalable systems supporting growth instead of constraining it. I don’t use generic training programs.  I engrain in the business to build systematic approaches.  I work within your real life constraints – billable pressures, busy season realities, client and customer demands.  All the while delivering measurable bottom-line improvement.

I operate via a Three Pillars Framework and have my own comprehensive diagnostic tool honed over decades that provides rigor and a robust telling assessment of your organization.

Ready to discuss turning these costs into competitive advantages improving profitability?

Schedule a 15-Minute Strategy Call

If you’re not ready – you can just contact me with a short problem statement for context.  I’ll give you a quick ‘hot take’ personally.

Josh LeFebvre
CLO & Founder
Kay/Allison LLC

¹ Professional services industry reports, 2024
² Training Magazine, “2022 Training Industry Report,” November 2022
³ The Coca-Cola Company, “2023 Annual Report” – Marketing investments
⁴ Society for Human Resource Management, “2024 Turnover Cost Analysis”
⁵ Reward Gateway, “Employee Turnover Rates by Industry,” April 2024
⁶ Private Equity International, “Professional Services PE Investment Trends,” 2024
⁷ Harvard Business Review, “Roaring Out of Recession,” March 2010
⁸ Kelly and Partners Group, “Professional Services Financial Analysis,” 2022
⁹ Accounting Insights, “Industry EBITDA Benchmarks,” 2024