It seems like a lifetime since March 2020, never mind the challenges of remote work and two long-going tax seasons now behind us. Uncertainty, extended and fluctuating deadlines, new regulations, and unknown inefficiencies required firms and leaders to evolve during the past 15 months.
The emerging mental health issue that developed during the pandemic has dominated headlines, but the underlying concern is pure fatigue and burnout. It’s been an issue in the accounting and advisory profession for years, yet the pandemic has forced firm leaders to address it head-on.
The question is how? And the answer has been hard to come by.
Clients – new and existing – have needed extra help on top of their normal engagements to navigate the pandemic’s challenges and the financial relief options that were presented. Professionals, in turn, haven’t been getting the rest and breaks they need to maintain their everyday work ethic.
The traditional options of “go home early” or “take a couple of days off” haven’t held up as many professionals are already working from home, and they have to deal with distractions there. Some firms offered gift certificates to go out to dinner, but many people didn’t want to venture outside their homes.
I recently visited with about 15 managing partners from large firms throughout the country who said, “Our employees feel they’re working 11 hours a day, but they’re really only working eight. They sit in front of their computer. Then their children get up, and they’re distracted. Then they’re feeding them, and by the way, we’ve gone back to sports and activities, so they’re squeezing work in between everything.”
To hear this group of managing partners identify fatigue and burnout as their No. 1 issue shows it’s more than a deadline issue or the challenges of remote work.
The shift to advisory is happening at most firms, and there is no standard “busy” season anymore. Combatting fatigue and burnout will require a different mindset from “you’ll get the summer off.” Firm leaders must think nontraditionally.
That shift dovetails with another concern, which is what happens when we get to the other side of the pandemic? Some fear if they haven’t found a way to make their team feel they’re taking care of them, they’re at risk of losing them. One managing partner in the roundtable I visited with said most of his colleagues are frozen in place because they haven’t settled on how they will operate in a remote world. His concern was that if his firm hasn’t embraced the remote model, they will lose team members to competitors who have embraced the new way of work.
Which leads me back to the question: what are firms doing to creatively solve the exasperated issue of fatigue and burnout and take care of their team members?
I’ve posed the question twice on my LinkedIn account, and while my connections usually have something to offer, I didn’t get any solutions to this question. That’s not to say firms aren’t doing right by their professionals, but it does show we have a long way to go to resolve this issue.
However, I found a firm just last week trying to address the issue before it becomes a problem.
IPA 100 firm Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP has unveiled a new proprietary change analytics platform to address organizational burnout, according to Inside Public Accounting.
The Clari3ty platform, developed by the firm’s health care consulting team in conjunction with professor-in-residence Dr. Victoria Grady, uses proprietary diagnostics and enterprise-specific data to help companies understand the breadth, depth, and character of burnout throughout then employ a data-driven perspective to analyze it, and ultimately create a response to address it.
“We are seeing burnout across all industries – health care, banking, technology, professional services and more,” Scott Spohn, leader of DHG’s people and change practice, told IPA. “Before any new initiatives can be implemented, leaders must understand where their people stand – are they ready for change? Are they change adverse? How widespread is burnout? Without organizational data to provide leaders the holistic readiness perspective and in-depth analysis, burnout will perpetuate.”
As fatigue and burnout continue to be an issue, I’ll continue to search for solutions. In the meantime, if you think of any answers or you already are executing something creative at your firm, let me know! I’d love to share them!
