Work/Life Balance

Work/Life balance is very important to today's CPA professional. Many companies and CPA firms have utilized flexible work arrangements to help employees meet their personal objectives and professional goals. The following are excerpts from "Flexible Work Arrangements in CPA Firms", a publication issued by the AICPA Women and Family Issues Executive Committee and the AICPA Management of an Accounting Practice Committee in collaboration with Barry Olmstead. To order a complete copy, please call the AICPA member satisfaction hotline at 1-888-777-7077 and ask for product #090425. (Cost $19.95 members/$24.95 non-members.)

Enhancing the Work-Family-Life Balance(return to top)

Not only is the gender balance changing in accounting firms, but also as the AICPA/State CPA Society Under-35 Symposium found, the attitudes and lifestyles of the younger members of both sexes differ in the following ways from those of their older counterparts: 

There are now more dual-career families, in which the traditional support of an at-home spouse is lacking and each family member feels the need for more time for a personal life.

Younger CPAs tend to focus on a better "quality of life." Even some older partners express regret about their lack of a work-life balance earlier in their careers.

The new employer/employee relationship which has emerged as a result of downsizing and restructuring has changed employee and employer loyalty nationally. This change is evidenced in the career expectations of CPAs who are under age 35. Flexibility in the workplace, the balance of career and family, long hours, and the compression of workloads were all cited as "overarching career issues" in the symposium report. The report also noted that CPAs under age 35 "question whether firms’ demands on their time are really necessary to meet client needs or are more an artifact of partners’ demanding traditional work structures."

Younger professionals react negatively to performance evaluations based on hours alone. They have a strong desire for more control over their own time.

Many of them have seen flexible work arrangements used successfully, and they view them as a way to achieve some of their personal objectives, as well as their professional goals.

Improving the Level of Staff Retention(return to top)

In a 1995 presentation to the Missouri Society of CPAs, David T. Kiefer, a partner in Aselage, Kiefer & Co., noted that "a major cost in our profession is the cost to develop a well-trained professional. The cost of losing a highly qualified staff member who opts out of public accounting at the three- to six-year point is significant. Any program that will enable a firm to retain such a staff member is potentially very valuable."

He went on to discuss his firm’s use of flexible work arrangements, which entail a variety of less than full-time schedules, and he commented, "Our highest retention rates are with our part-time professional staff."

Deloitte & Touche managers realized that after seven or eight years of employment at the company, its women accountants were leaving and that the company was therefore losing its investment in those personnel. Senior management decreed that the company find out why this was happening and stop it.

Many changes resulted, one of which was the development of both a flexible workplace program and the option of a reduced workload. Deloitte’s J. Michael Cook recently observed, "It is a business imperative to address the retention and advancement of women. If we are unable to retain our high-talent women, we are wasting the experience and talent of half the population. We invest significant time and money in recruiting and training, and when high-talent professionals leave, the firm suffers a reduction in productivity and client-service continuity."

Although the AICPA/State CPA Society report reflects the interest of younger accounting professionals in flexible work arrangements, these options appeal to senior professionals as well, particularly women. David Kiefer noted, "Virtually all of our part-time staff, both current and former, have been women who left full-time positions in public accounting after becoming senior accountants and choosing to cut back their hours as a part of their plans to have a family."

In other industries, employers have realized that by giving employees control over their work environment, they can increase employee morale and loyalty to the employer. Flexible work arrangements have greatly helped businesses to give employees this control and to reduce turnover.

Gaining a Recruiting Advantage(return to top)

Talented people at all levels are attracted to workplaces that offer them more control over when and where work may be done. Flexible work arrangements are a key element for many job applicants. Whether a potential employee wants to avail himself or herself of these options immediately or whether that person recognizes that sometime in the future a nonstandard schedule might be important, the fact that a firm offers this opportunity for flexibility is a strong inducement for seeking employment there. A reputation for workplace flexibility can help a firm become an employer of choice.

A National Study of the Changing Work Force, conducted by the Families and Work Institute in New York, reported that 60 percent of the 3,718 respondents chose to be employed with their most recent employers because of the positive effect of the firm’s policies on their personal and family life; the study also noted that a significant portion of workers without workplace flexibility "would be willing to make substantial trade-offs to have access to these programs; they wanted flexibility and control over their work content and schedules and commented that they were more satisfied and productive in the workplace when they have that flexibility and control."

By offering flexible work arrangements, a firm can also gain access to a larger labor pool. For instance, when a firm offers a telecommuting option, it can expand its labor market to include cities far away, as well as applicants who may be required to stay at home because of a disability or because of child-care or elder-care responsibilities.

Managing Seasonality(return to top)

Managing workload compression and improving a firm’s ability to cope with the seasonal aspects of public accounting are problems that are high on everyone’s list. Having a mix of full-time and part-time personnel has been one way in which some firms have begun to address these problems, because it gives them greater latitude in the allocation of human resources.

In his presentation, Kiefer reported, "Alternative work arrangements have made it possible for us to better meet the seasonal needs of our business. These arrangements consist mainly of part-time work schedules with a concentration of hours in the tax season." Firms across the country also report that having a mix of full-time and part-time personnel allows them to increase billable hours during their busy season without having this take a huge toll on full-time personnel.

Rubin, Brown, Gornstein & Co. of St. Louis is one firm that utilizes a variety of part-time work schedules. Some part-time personnel in this firm work full-time during tax season and two or three days per week during the rest of the year; others work full-time during tax season, are off during the summer, and then work two or three days a week the rest of the year; and some work only during tax season.

Improving Client Services(return to top)

James Schiro of Price Waterhouse believes that clients "want the best service. They want results. They don’t necessarily care when or where the work is done as long as they’re satisfied in the end." When flexible work arrangements help firms to retain high-quality staff members, a greater sense of stability is created during client assignments — for clients, this is a major plus. These arrangements also help employers expand their hours of service and improve the coverage of work peaks and valleys.

Since personnel on flextime can come in early and leave early, or can come in late and work late, the possibility of extending the hours of service and operation at both ends of the day is opened. Having these options available raises employee morale and leads to a higher degree of staff retention. Often the people retained as a result of this greater flexibility are senior staff members who have important client relationships, and the firm will benefit from their continued service.

Improving Productivity(return to top)

"Our part-time staff has historically averaged approximately 18 percent greater chargeability than comparable-level full-time staff," reports David Kiefer. Managers often credit productivity improvements to the morale boost that accompanies an employee’s shift to a schedule that suits his or her needs better. Another productivity-related issue is that labor is allocated more efficiently through the combination of full-time and part-time staff.

Flexible work arrangements can reduce absenteeism by providing personnel with a means of balancing their work schedule with the rest of their life. For instance, employees using a flexible work option find it easier to schedule doctor’s and other personal appointments during their time off. In cases of telecommuting, it is possible that an employee who is too sick to come into the office might be able to continue to work at home.

Depending on the circumstances and the particular options available, flexibility can also be used to promote the development of cross-functional skills, promote teamwork and a sense of employee empowerment, address career plateaus, and reduce stress and burnout.

Facilitating Education(return to top)

A full-time work schedule can be a barrier to continued growth and learning. The option of temporarily reducing a work schedule or of having flexible starting and quitting times can make education or additional training easier. Even in small offices, flexibility has been used to facilitate education and training. In one three-person office in Merritt Island, Florida, both the bookkeeper and the office manager work within a schedule of thirty-five hours a week, so that they may take nine to twelve credit hours of college. According to Susan Murray Lynn, CPA, the managing partner, in addition to having a shortened schedule, "they are permitted to adjust their work schedules to attend college for day or night classes."  

Reducing Office Space and Capital Requirements(return to top)

One of the advantages of flexible work arrangements is that they can help expand the number of hours in which expensive office space and equipment are used, since they extend the workday at both ends.

Some employers worry that some types of flexible schedules (for example, job sharing or regular part-time) may increase their need for space and equipment, because the number of staff members increases. This has not proved to be the case in most firms. Job sharers are seldom on site at the same time, and the use of flexplace, flextime, and compressed workweeks also means that fewer people are in the office at the same time. Consultant Jack Nilles estimates that in fact, a person working at home two days a week saves a company $12,000 a year as a result of his or her increased productivity, the reduction in office space, and lower levels of turnover.

Types of Flexible Work Arrangements(return to top)

• Flextime
• Compressed workweeks
• Regular part-time
• Job sharing
• Work sharing
• Flexplace (telecommuting)
• Leaves and sabbaticals

Most firms that are in the process of becoming more flexible use one or more of these options. Having the capacity to implement different versions and combinations of these arrangements allows organizations to customize their staff’s work hours to the particular work flow needs of the firm. At the same time they can also build on the preferences of their personnel. This is a "win-win" arrangement: both the firm and its staff are able to function better than they did with a "one size fits all" staffing structure.

Because flexible work arrangements have come into usage fairly recently, the terminology about them is not always clear and the distinctions between different options are not always made consistent. The particular attributes of each option are described in chapters 3-9. Details on how to use each option successfully (including suggestions for designing policies and programs) and examples of how each option has been used in other accounting firms are provided.

 

Business Reasons for Using a Particular Arrangement(return to top)

Table 1 illustrates how specific flexible work arrangements can help firms meet various business needs, such as the reduction of absenteeism, the expanded use of equipment, the improvement of productivity, and the reduction of labor costs.

 

Table 1: Business Uses of Various Flexible Work Arrangements
Business Need	FT	CWW	FP	RPT	JS	PR	WS	L/S
Reduce stress	X		X	X	X	X	X	X
Retain quality people	X		X		X	X	X	X
Reduce absenteeism	X			X	X
Improve scheduling	X	X		X	X
Expand hours of service	X	X	X		X
Expand use of equipment	X	X	X
Improve productivity			X	X	X
Reduce labor costs				X	X	X	X	X
Enhance morale	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X

TABLE KEY: FT = flextime; CWW = compressed workweek; FP = flexplace; RPT = regular part-time; JS = job sharing; PR = phased retirement; WS = work sharing; L/S = leaves/sabbaticals

 

Myths Dispelled(return to top)

Let’s discuss and dispel some of the myths about flexible work arrangements.

FICTION: Flexibility is inequitable because options like job sharing or flextime can’t be used by all the staff.
FACT: Everyone doesn’t have the same needs. With an increasingly diverse work force, equity no longer means that everyone has the same options or that the same solutions apply to each employee. Equity today means that everyone—secretaries, accountants, managers, and partners—has access to the options he or she needs.

FICTION: Flexibility is a "slippery slope." If we let one person telecommute or change his or her starting time, everyone will want to.
FACT: No one who has used flexible work arrangements has reported a flood of requests for change. The fact is that most people prefer an office environment and cannot afford to reduce their work time significantly. However, some staff members really need a flexible option to function well in their jobs, and surveys show that having these options available is popular with almost everyone. Besides, organizational policy always gives managers control over whether to use or allow flexible work arrangements.

FICTION: Flexibility is just a women’s issue; most men don’t need these options.
FACT: Increasingly, company surveys are indicating that men also need more opportunities for flexible work arrangements. The AICPA/State Society study of accounting professionals under the age of 35 showed that a work-life balance was important to both women and men in the accounting profession. As James Schiro of Price Waterhouse noted recently, "While women may initiate much of the discussion about balancing work and family demands, men benefit just as much from the resulting programs and initiatives."

FICTION: Flexibility is the best way to solve child-care or elder-care problems.
FACT: Flexibility can relieve some of the stress for some personnel who have child-care or elder-care responsibilities. However, it is not the only answer, nor should flexibility be considered solely a work-family policy. There are many staff members who need flexible options for other reasons: the need to facilitate recurrent education or training, the need for a phased retirement, mental burnout, or physical health problems, to name a few.

FICTION: Flexibility only works in low-level or routine jobs, not in positions with a lot of responsibility.
FACT: A 1994 study of the corporate use of flexible work arrangements (including flextime, job sharing, and working at home) conducted by Catalyst, a nonprofit organization based in New York City, demonstrated that personnel in various capacities and at all different levels worked productively in all these styles. It is often a firm’s lower-level personnel who feel unable to negotiate the kind of flexibility that they need, because they worry about the impact of such a negotiation on their job security and feel that management considers them easily replaceable.

FICTION: Flexibility is disruptive.
FACT: Most change is disruptive unless it is well managed. Losing good people because they need more flexible schedules is disruptive; layoffs are disruptive. Using new forms of regular part-time work or implementing a summer-hours or flextime program that reduces turnover can diminish disruption.

FICTION: Most supervisors dislike flexibility because it makes more work for them.
FACT: The supervision of flexible work arrangements requires a new kind of management style, one that emphasizes results rather than oversight. Some managers are more comfortable with this change than others, but once they have some experience with managing flexible scheduling arrangements, many supervisors report that they end up with less work.

Working flexibly often enhances self-management. Managers of job sharers comment that people who share jobs tend to supervise each other and to compensate for deficiencies in skills. One supervisor of personnel working on flexible schedules commented, "Under flextime we had people responding to problems even though their supervisor wasn’t present. . . .We found a few people whom we developed into supervisors. We had a very good experience."

FICTION: Supervisors won’t want to support a wider use of flexible work options because they can’t participate in them.
FACT: Supervisors can and do participate in flexible work arrangements. There are supervisors who work part-time in top-level jobs, some who work at home several days a week, and others who are on flexible schedules.

FICTION: Working under a flexible schedule will derail career or promotional aspirations.
FACT: Working part-time may slow down a fast track but not permanently. It often means that an employee can retain a partial career attachment that might otherwise have been lost. A 1993 study by Catalyst indicated that 53 percent of the participants had received promotions while they worked under a reduced schedule. If working under a flexible or at-home schedule helps an employee to become more efficient, his or her career advancement may advance.

FICTION: Flexibility will decrease productivity.
FACT: Most studies report an increase in productivity, or at least no fall-off, when flexible work arrangements are used properly. This is due to a variety of factors, some specific to particular options. In general, improvements in productivity can be credited to a higher energy level as a result of reduced stress or better morale, an improved quality of work, more of a focus on the task rather than on the time spent, extended periods of service from the same numbers of personnel, and other factors.

FICTION: Flexible work arrangements will lead to a loss of management control.
FACT: One manager remarked before trying flextime, "If I used flexible schedules in my department, everyone would be coming and going at odd hours and no one would be there to do the work." The executive management of his firm, however, "strongly urged" departments to "try it. You’ll like it." The skeptic signed up and has become a confirmed supporter of flexible schedules. This scenario has been a typical one when job sharing, telecommuting, flextime, and other new options are tried. In most cases, experience has bred converts, not contempt.

FICTION: Flexibility is just a fad. Interest in it will soon pass.
FACT: According to the February 1996 issue of HR Magazine, "about 42% of employers already offer some sort of flexible scheduling, such as job sharing or working a compressed week;" and the number is growing. Far from being a fad, flexibility is a survival tool for more and more employers and their personnel. Increasingly the message is, if you want to compete in the twenty-first century, learn how to be flexible.

Parental Leave(return to top)

Provides new parents with time to adjust to the birth or adoption of a child and to the responsibilities of childrearing.

Components of Parental Leave, Eligibility, and Duration

DISABILITY LEAVE: Women medically disabled due to pregnancy, childbirth, and/or complications arising from these conditions are eligible for disability leave of up to 65 work days, based on medical necessity as determined by physician, length of service with the firm, and additional criteria as set forth in the Deloitte & Touche short-term disability policy.
PAID CHILD-CARE LEAVE: Following the birth or adoption of a child, women and men with at least five years of service are eligible for two weeks paid leave to be taken within four months of the event.
UNPAID CHILD-CARE LEAVE: Following the birth or adoption of a child, eligible women and men are entitled to a total of 12 weeks of unpaid leave pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993; any paid time off taken for parental leave (e.g., disability leave or paid child-care leave) will be applied toward the 12-week entitlement under FMLA. Once available FMLA leave has been exhausted, and additional period of up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave may be requested and will be considered as described below.

Return and Transition to Full-Time Work

A professional returning to work after a parental leave may request a reduced workload schedule for a period of up to 24 weeks immediately following the expiration of the leave period.
Career Advancement

Duration and timing of leave may affect career advancement.

Benefits

All employee benefits are maintained throughout all phases of parental leave up to 24 weeks on the same basis as for active full-time employees. Vacation benefits will accrue during paid or unpaid disability leave and paid child-care leave; vacation benefits will not accrue during any period of unpaid leave. If the leave is in excess of 24 weeks, the professional will be required to pay the full premium cost of the benefits.

Additional Information

Advance planning is necessary to meet client service needs and to comply with short-term disability and FMLA regulations.
Although we will try to accommodate a request for a total leave in excess of 12 weeks, approval will be based on needs of clients and practice office.