Resetting Normal

RESETTING YOUR WORK-LIFE BALANCE Three Key Trends for Adapting to a New Working Environment By eriC Greene, Cpa, CMa, Cia, CFe

One night, after about six months of working from home, my wife jokingly commented as I was answering some emails before bedtime, “Are you working from home? Or are you sleeping at work?” After a quick laugh about the absurdity of our lives while dealing with COVID-19, my wife’s comment left me thinking: What does the future of remote work hold for all of us? How do we adapt to these new hard trends that are increasingly resetting what we know to be normal?

As CPAs engage in more remote work due to COVID-19, the world and our profession are changing as a result of this “mass experiment.” Facebook has said that half of its employees may be working remote within the next 5 to 10 years. Square, Twitter, Zillow, and Shopify have informed their employees that they can continue working from home forever. Accounting firms and professionals are not immune from these new hard trends, either. Large accounting firms, such as PwC, are predicting that most of their employees will continue to work from home in the future, with “no set expectation of a number of days in the office.” These trends are not only affecting accounting, but also various knowledge workers. Slack recently performed a study of remote work by industry — surprisingly, accounting and finance knowledge workers have more of a suitability for remote work, though they are among several other industries who are similarly impacted.

The question remains: What must we do to adapt to the changing workforce and way of doing work? Recently, a global study was performed by The Adecco Group to better understand the change in working environment views triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a survey of thousands of officebased employees, managers and C-suite executives from various locations, Adecco reviewed old and new attitudes and behaviors from recent working trends, revealing the following important insights that will impact how all of us work going into the future. I believe that as CPAs and

as accounting professionals, we must adapt to these three trends if we wish to be successful in the coming years. 1. The accounting profession is ripe for hybrid working

Due to the flexibility required by current challenges that the world is facing, CPAs are growing more accustomed to the flexibility of working remotely.

As such, CPAs may continue to seek flexible working conditions, both in work schedules and location. According to the study, 82% of U.S.-based respondents agree that employees will benefit from increased flexibility. In addition, 74% of workers responded that a mix of remote work and officebased work is the best way forward. Between eliminating commute times and allotting more time for family and personal priorities, hybrid working may assist with more work-life “integration” that is likely to occur in the future.

Fortunately, it’s not only employees who see the benefits. According to the study, 77% of executive managers believe that firms will greatly benefit from allowing increased flexibility through remote work. Concurrently, 79% of executive managers see that employees will positively benefit from having increased flexibility. 2. The 9–5 schedule is drastically shifting to less rigid working times The move to remote work has led firms to consider lessening restrictions about what should be normal working hours. Based on the recent study, 75% of employees think it is important that they retain flexibility over their working hours and schedule, as long as they are showing they can meet deadlines and be responsive to questions and issues when they arise. Additionally, 78% of employees say that feeling trusted to get the job done is very important, where the “time at a desk” is no longer determined as a primary indicator of productivity and contribution.

While working from home, many employees have adjusted their working schedule according to their natural “flow” of productivity with different time spent for various personal or family obligations. But despite an unconventional timetable (as many of us can personally attest), leaders are still seeing results, leading many firms to believe this flexibility should become normalized in the long term. In fact, the study affirms that 67% of respondents believe employers should revisit the length of the working week and the number of hours that employees are expected to work. This may go against what we know and believe about what work looks like as CPAs and accounting professionals, but these changes can be credited to the betterment of work-life balance, which has employees focusing more on output rather than hours. 3. Prioritizing mental well-being is essential It may not come as a surprise that 28% of respondents to the survey noted that their mental health has been getting worse during the pandemic. Understandably, current emotional pressures, social isolation, and other recent issues have had a major impact on mental health. While 54% of leaders state it’s difficult to provide effective advice to staff on their mental well-being during the pandemic, similarly, 50% say it’s difficult to remain aware of how their teams are feeling.

Due to these new circumstances, emotional intelligence is the new “gold standard” and matters more now than ever before. As such, leaders should focus on being collaborative, positive, empathetic, and supportive to their teams and organizations.

With other remote priorities like digital upskilling for a remote workforce and leading with trust, I believe by meeting the new trends we can be more successful in leading our teams, helping our organizations, and living more healthy and balanced personal lives. Good luck to each of us in resetting normal! n

Eric Greene, CPA, CMA, CIA, CFE, is the director of financial reporting at ZAGG and is an alumni of both the UACPA and the AICPA Leadership Academy. Eric holds two master’s degrees from Westminster and two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Utah. Eric serves currently on both UACPA and AICPA committees.