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RSM McGladrey Inc. has overcome some hurdles in the last year.

The recession caused financial distress for some of its clients and the RSM McGladrey accountants who work with them.

There were two rounds of layoffs, one in late 2008 and another in 2009, that reduced the company’s work force by about 7 percent, said Rod Foster, location leader for the Des Moines office. That meant that fewer people were carrying the same workload, sometimes dealing with more stress for themselves and their clients.

And that extra work didn’t carry the benefit of extra pay, Foster said.

Still, the RSM McGladrey crew will “run through a wall for you if you ask them to,” he said.

That attitude carried into personal crises, also. Employees contributed $12,000 to a co-worker who suffered a stroke. When another co-worker’s twins were hospitalized, RSM McGladrey employees turned over their banked time off so he could take off work to be with his children.

“You know somebody will help when you need help,” Foster said. “Sometimes I just cross my fingers and hope the culture will stay the way it is.”

About the layoffs, Foster said, “These weren’t performance issues; you just had to address that we had more bodies than we could support.”

In order to make sure workers understood that they were appreciated, RSM McGladrey launched an “accolades” program this year, in which an electronic card is sent with a simple message, such as “job well done.”

Such programs, along with ongoing shenanigans that have helped the firm avoid the stereotype of being a shop of staid, stuffy number crunchers, have helped McGladrey finish at or near the top of the Best Places to Work survey for several years.

“We try to liven things up,” Foster said. “We are accountants, so it’s not like we are going to go nuts or anything.”

Some of that silly stuff is carried out by interns – the company takes on 10 or so every year – who are egged on by staff. Company leadership isn’t afraid to play some jokes.

After interns bubble-wrapped the partners’ offices, the novices were sent to deliver tax returns, only to find their vehicles were covered in shrink wrap. Partners disassembled work cubicles and reassembled them in restrooms in retaliation for the apparent theft of their office chairs.

Softball games pit rookies against seasoned office pros. Putting their accounting noggins to good use, those games turn into softball bingo. “It’s fun,” Foster said. “If you’re going to work them hard, you have to let them play hard at some point.”