Biz (off)beat: Who needs bonus? Ritz will do

Let’s face it, bean counting can be a grind. All numbers. All business. All the time.

Not if you work for Porter Keadle Moore LLP.

The Atlanta accounting firm didn’t think twice about whisking its entire staff off to Miami a couple of years ago. It was just for the day, to say thanks for their hard work.

The firm’s 90 members soaked up the sun on a yacht and catamaran, then went sightseeing and dancing.

“We could have given a bonus,” said partner Debbie Sessions, who is the firm’s chief operating officer. “But we thought creating an experience that people would be talking about for a while would be better.”

That philosophy earned the company the title of the nation’s most psychologically healthy workplace. It was awarded this year by the American Psychological Association.

So what did the firm do as an encore after the Miami trip?

Employees were treated recently to a day at the Ritz-Carlton on Lake Oconee. The 30-year-old firm’s three key departments —- auditing, tax and systems —- don’t often get the chance to work together. The outings are a way “of bringing the firm together,” Sessions said.

There are also small get-togethers. For instance, some teams get together quarterly. One team takes golf lessons. Another takes in Agatha Christie murder mystery plays. Some go bowling or make pottery.

“Over time, the people you pay are more important than the people who pay you,” Sessions said. “In a service industry like accounting, the only thing that distinguishes us from the competition is people.”