My first year at H&RB - Avis employé First Year Tax Associate H&R Block

As a first year associate, unlike more advanced associates, you are paid hourly. Thus you don't get paid more for doing a more complex return, unlike everyone else. But my real problem with the current H&R Block structure for first years is that first years, at least in my office, didn't get a chance to do a tax return unless everyone else was busy. Because everyone else's pay is based on the number of tax returns they do, that meant that senior preparers were taking all of the 1040 EZ returns unless they were totally swamped, rather than leaving the easier returns for the first years. I did a total of 25 returns in my entire time at H&R Block, and by the second week in February, I was down to 4 hours a week at $8.50 an hour. Thirty-four dollars a week is not a living wage! There was no way to get more hours than that since they were scheduled by the manager and more senior people had priority. I spent a lot more time sitting around waiting to do a return than actually doing returns. The "good news" is that essentially H&RB paid me to study for the CPA exam, since that's what I did while I was waiting, and passing that exam and my H&R Block experience helped me get my first job working at a small CPA firm.