4 tips to help CPAs avoid burnout

November 11, 2021 11:55 AM

CPAs put a lot of time and effort into guiding their clients to financial success, but that work can come at a cost. Employee burnout is a common issue across professions, and CPAs are no exception. The stress brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have worsened burnout problems in the workforce, with 52% of respondents in a 2021 Indeed survey reporting burnout. Those numbers are up from 43% prior to the pandemic.

The heavy workload put on many CPAs can make the profession ripe for problems with burnout. Fortunately, there are some adjustments that can be made by CPAs — and their firms — to improve employee satisfaction and reduce burnout. Here are a few things to work on to reduce the burden on CPAs.

Create a more balanced schedule

CPAs aren’t exactly known for having a forgiving schedule. The work can be nonstop at times, especially during tax season. There may be an unspoken culture of putting in 60 hours of work a week — or more. Creating a more balanced schedule starts with the firm. Change the unspoken culture to a spoken culture of caring about CPAs and whether they are being overworked. Working hard and being overworked are not synonymous, and overworking doesn’t create a better employee.

A 2018 survey found that

40% of workers

in the United States would support a four-day workweek if their pay remained the same. Working fewer hours does not make employees lazy — in fact, it makes them more productive. Research has found that productivity

rapidly declines

for employees working significantly more than 40 hours per week. Limiting the number of hours in a workweek creates happier people and better employees.

Respect a CPA’s home life

There are a lot of factors that can contribute to your work life creeping into your home life. At the turn of the century, it wasn’t expected that everybody had a cell phone and would check their emails at all hours of the day. When people left work, they were generally gone until they returned the next morning. These days, people are easily reached on their cell phones no matter where they are, and that can lead to work and home being one and the same. Add in the work-from-home transition that many companies made due to COVID-19, and it can be hard to have a real dividing line between work and home life.

Providing flexibility for employees to work from home full-time, part-time, or as needed can be a great perk if boundaries are in place. It is important that home doesn’t become a round-the-clock extension of the office. Make sure your employees know their private lives will be respected, and encourage them to check out at the end of the day.

Focus on meaningful work

Let’s face it: Not every aspect of accounting evokes passion, and not all of the work brings the same financial benefit for the firm. Having a little bit of flexibility over the kind of work being done can help curb burnout and elicit more enthusiasm from employees.

The

Pareto Principle

, or the 80/20 rule, can be helpful in determining what work is most important to individuals and the firm as a whole. Essentially, roughly 20% of the firm’s clients likely account for 80% of revenue. Or 20% of a CPA’s workload is devoted to the most essential tasks, while 80% may be more of the minutiae. Focusing more on the most important 20% and cutting back on the other 80% can save time and allow employees to devote their efforts to more meaningful and satisfying work.

Delegate tasks

The work that falls in the 80% category of the 80/20 rule may be less exciting, but that doesn’t mean it can all be tossed aside. Removing some of these tasks from a CPA’s workload may mean delegating some tasks to other employees with more time or different skill sets.

Firms can also take advantage of automation technology for repetitive tasks. Automation could be utilized for an estimated

50% or more

of the mundane tasks that are still so vital for CPAs. As this work is turned over to artificial intelligence, time can be freed up for advisory work or other pursuits that are more meaningful to the individual CPAs.

Burnout is a very real problem for CPAs in an industry where hard work is valued, but there is always more work to be done. Reducing and preventing burnout for CPAs is both an individual and a collective effort. CPAs must prioritize their own well-being, and firms must enact policies that protect their valuable employees.