With more firms going remote, I'm finding it challenging to properly mentor junior auditors who aren't in the office. Video calls help but there's something about sitting together and walking through complex Xcel Energy tariffs that's hard to replicate virtually. How are others handling this? Screen sharing only goes so far when you're trying to explain subtle billing nuances or help someone spot errors in demand calculations.
Mentoring remote junior auditors - best practices?
Lori, we've had good success with shared workspaces in the cloud. Box and SharePoint work well for collaborating on audits in real-time. I can watch a junior work through an Entergy Arkansas account and make corrections or suggestions as they go. The key is scheduling regular check-ins, not just when there are problems. Weekly one-on-ones via video have been essential.
Remote mentoring definitely requires more structure. I created detailed checklists for different types of audits - commercial, industrial, power quality reviews. New auditors follow the checklist and I review their work at each stage. It's more time-intensive but prevents major errors. Also helps that we can record training sessions now for future reference.
The recording idea is brilliant Janice. We've started building a library of training videos for common scenarios - MLGW demand ratchets, power factor corrections, time-of-use analysis. New hires can review these multiple times instead of asking the same questions repeatedly. Also helps with consistency when multiple seniors are doing training.
Randy, that's exactly what we need to do. How long are your typical training videos? I'm thinking 15-20 minutes max to keep attention spans engaged. Also, do you have them work through practice accounts or use real client data? Privacy concerns make me hesitant to use actual client information in recorded training.
We use sanitized real data - remove company names and account numbers but keep the billing complexity. A $180K annual Entergy account with demand charges and power factor penalties teaches the same lessons whether it's called "ABC Manufacturing" or the real company name. Just make sure your data use agreements allow for training purposes.
Lois makes a good point about data agreements. We have specific language in our contracts allowing use of billing data for internal training. The key is removing all identifying information but keeping the complexity. A hotel with weird demand patterns teaches the same lessons regardless of the actual hotel name.
For video length, we keep them under 15 minutes and focus on one concept per video. "Understanding MLGW Demand Ratchets" is one video, "Calculating Power Factor Penalties" is another. Easier to find what you need later and doesn't overwhelm new people. We have about 30 videos now covering most common scenarios.
Thirty videos sounds like a lot of work upfront but huge time savings long-term. Are you finding remote auditors take longer to become proficient compared to in-person training? I feel like some of the subtle intuition about when bills "look wrong" is harder to develop virtually.
Lori, yes it definitely takes longer remote. That intuition you mention comes from seeing lots of examples and having someone point out the subtle flags. We've started doing monthly "bill review sessions" where the whole team looks at unusual accounts together. Helps develop that pattern recognition even when working remotely.
The group review sessions are great for building team knowledge too. Last month we had an Entergy account with a billing error that took three of us to figure out. Turned out to be a meter multiplier issue that resulted in $8,000 overcharges. Now everyone on the team knows what to look for with multiplier problems.
Janice, those group problem-solving sessions are invaluable. We call them "Stump the Team" meetings. Someone brings a tricky account and we all work through it together. Builds collective expertise and gives juniors exposure to complex scenarios they might not see in their regular assignments. Plus it's actually fun when you crack a tough case.
Love the "Stump the Team" concept! Going to steal that idea. It addresses my concern about juniors not getting enough exposure to complex scenarios when working remotely. If we can artificially create that exposure through team sessions, it might actually be better than the random exposure they'd get in an office setting.
Exactly Lori. Plus with remote work, we can bring in specialists more easily. Had a power quality expert join one of our sessions via video to explain harmonics analysis. Would have been much harder to coordinate if we required everyone to be in the same room. Remote training has some real advantages once you figure out the structure.