finance and accounting professionals aren’t alone in feeling overworked. it’s a national epidemic. see how you stack up by taking the survey.
by rick telberg
first, the bad news: your workload as an accountant or finance professional won’t let up any time soon.
the good news? you’re not alone.
in fact, current reports show that about 33 percent of college-educated male workers are regularly booking 50 or more hours a week working. that’s up from about 20 percent a quarter century ago.
wait, it gets worse: about 40 percent of americans are sleep-deprived – getting less than seven hours of zzz’s a night; and that’s up from about 33 percent just four years ago.
how about lunch? who has the time? about 60 percent of midday meals are rushed.
accounting and finance professionals are among the most pressured these days, considering staff shortages, a deluge of new compliance work and imminent year-end closes and tax season.
but work overload is a national, economy-wide problem. the irony, of course, is that in the 1970s and 1980s experts thought women’s entry into the workforce would relieve labor pressures. in fact the rise of the “working woman” led to the myth of the “super-woman” and even more pressure on workers and families. then, technology was expected to increase productivity in the 1980s and 1990s. and it did: over the past 25 years productivity per worker is up about 70 percent.
so if we’re all producing so much, so efficiently, why are we working so hard?
you could blame the corporate “rat race” – the ever more competitive battle for “success” in america. but many of the highest ranking people in organizations are the very ones suffering the most. “the problem, in a nutshell,” reported businessweek, “is this: succeeding in today’s economy requires lightning-fast reflexes and the ability to collaborate and communicate across the globe.”
the roadblock could be bureaucracy – layers of middle management that, despite years of corporate streamlining, now make up an even larger share of the organization, with every layer and department requiring more approvals and check-offs. that won’t come as a surprise to any finance or accounting professional muddling through a stack of new to-do items.
of course, fixing the problem won’t be easy. but who said it would be? and isn’t that what they really pay you for?
some tips for the overworked
? stop relying so much on technology. there’s a limit to what you can get done by email and cell phone. face-to-face meetings at work, family dinners at home, and reconnecting with friends can be far more effective, spiritually rewarding, and professionally re-invigorating than a powerpoint or an im.
? build in some slack. you need to expect the unexpected. so don’t overbook. build buffers into your schedule between tasks, meetings or even kids’ soccer games.
? screen out distractions. some suggest checking voicemail before email and checking only twice a day. turn off the computer. lock the door. focus and get the job done so you can leave it behind you.
? set priorities. you remember pareto’s principle, the 80/20 rule? focus on the 20 percent that really means something.