The Access Group provides accounting practice software for firms, both large and small. Our software for accountants streamlines and automates manual, repetitive tasks, giving modern accountants more time to focus on more profound and meaningful jobs and gain headspace.
Accounting firms often experience long hours, tight deadlines, and high expectations, meaning that employee burnout can be especially prevalent. In this article, we look at ways accounting practices can effectively manage or prevent employee burnout.
After reading this article, accountants will understand employee wellbeing better, know how to embed an employee wellness culture in their accounting practice and spot the early warning signs, so they can best support your practice employees experiencing mental burnout.
What is employee wellbeing?
Before we look in greater detail at what employee burnout means to the accounting industry, we must identify employee wellbeing.
Wellbeing for your employees is about more than simply supporting accountants who are struggling with mental health issues. Workplace wellbeing for accountants is about developing an accounting firm culture that allows employees to thrive.
You can start this with an employee wellbeing strategy that will likely vary based on your accounting firm's size and budget. Progressive accounting practices are even introducing independent wellbeing strategies, including the strands of employee physical health, mental health and financial wellbeing support.
Either way, employee wellbeing strategies will likely include tactical ways to provide support in the short-term, preventative measures, reducing burnout, absenteeism and other work-related ill health, and providing a long-term view of how to embed a wellbeing culture into the everyday running of your accounting firm.
Why are employee mental health initiatives important for accounting firms?
In short, many of us spend most of our waking time at work. How we feel about our work impacts our personal lives and vice versa. Let's be honest, no one wants to put up with toxic workplace behaviour. Plus, if we're struggling in our home life, this undoubtedly affects our ability to contribute effectively within the workplace.
Offering a range of meaningful benefits to support the mental health of employees can have many tangible and intangible benefits for accounting firms and risks for those that overlook their most asset: their people.
What are the benefits of an employee wellbeing culture for accounting firms?
The benefits of improved employee wellbeing won't just be seen in the less tangible use of a happier and healthier accounting practice workforce – though that should be a moral obligation for accounting firms to strive to achieve.
The benefits will likely show up in more tangible ways for accounting firms, such as:
- Increased employee productivity: Employees who experience healthy mental wellbeing will be more motivated to perform accounting jobs and more efficient than those who are stressed, burnt out or don't feel valued.
- Improved employee engagement: A Gallup study found that when employees are engaged, their burnout decreases, and productivity and wellbeing increases.
- Better retention: Accounting practices that create a positive wellbeing culture can expect lower staff turnover than those that do little to prioritise employee wellbeing.
- Reduction in sick leave, absenteeism and presenteeism: Accounting practices that invest in the wellbeing of their accountants will start to see more consistency in staff attendance. According to The Black Dog Institute, the financial impact of stress-related work absenteeism and presenteeism can cost Australia $14.8 billion annually.
- Avoiding crisis points: Early intervention strategies for employee wellbeing can prevent problems such as workplace stress, professional burnout and disengagement from occurring in the first place.
- Enhanced accounting practice brand and reputation: Accounting practices that put wellbeing at the heart of their culture will attract the best talent. This generation expects to work in environments providing more holistic employee wellbeing benefits.
Do accountants get burnt out?
Now that we better understand the importance of employee wellbeing for accounting practices, let's look further into workplace burnout at work.
The effects of employee burnout can happen to accountants at any time. However, burnout is far more prevalent for employees since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the rise of flexible working environments that have become commonplace since 2020.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) define burnout as an "occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed", and there are three dimensions categorising employee burnout:
- Feelings of energy depletion, mental exhaustion and frustration.
- Increased mental distance from one's job, feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's position; and
- Reduced professional efficacy.
Employee burnout is so commonplace it has now been officially recognised in the 11th Revision of the WHO's International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).
According to a survey by McKinsey, an estimated 11 per cent of Australian employees are experiencing very high-degree staff burnout.
A recent study of 204 accounting professionals in the US by the University of Georgia and FloQast, an accounting software company, was particularly eye-opening on the impact of burnout. The survey found that 99% of accountants experienced some level of burnout. While the effect on burnout may be unique for everyone, of the 99% of accountants who reported feeling some employee burnout, 54% were at or above average, with 24% admitting higher degrees of burnout.
Why are so many accountants experiencing employee burnout?
Here are some common causes of employee burnout for accountants:
- Long working hours: Accountants often see increased workloads and work long hours, especially during busy periods like tax season, leading to feelings of depletion or mental exhaustion due to a lack of work-life balance.
- High-pressure environment: Accountants are often pressured to meet tight deadlines, produce accurate reports, and provide high-quality advice to clients. This pressure can accumulate feelings of unfair treatment, stress and anxiety.
- Repetitive work impacting performance: Much of an accountant's work can be repetitive and routine, leading to feelings of emotional exhaustion and a lack of motivation.
- Lack of recognition: One of the reasons behind employee burnout is accountants feeling their hard work needs to be recognised or valued by their colleagues or superiors, leading them to burn out.
- Need for more resources: Accountants may need more help, such as staffing or technology, to complete their work effectively and efficiently, creating stress and frustration.
What are the warning signs of employee burnout in accounting firms?
The causes of workplace burnout are numerous for accountants, spanning from unmanageable workloads to a lack of support and concerns over job security, with remote working arrangements also exacerbating the blurred lines between work-life balance.
Spotting the early signs of burnout relies on accounting firm leaders and HR being emotionally 'tuned in', paying attention to any changes in behaviour that may affect an individual's engagement and productivity long before it leads to burnout.
So, what does burnout look like? Typically, burnout symptoms can include, but are not limited to:
- Impaired concentration and attention
- Reduced productivity and performance
- Recurring sickness
- Detachment from one's work
- Negativity, irritability or cynicism towards other employees and their job
- Low morale
How can you avoid employee burnout for your accounting practice employees?
Leaders checking in regularly on wellbeing and workload
Employees need to feel that their employers are looking out for them. It is up to accounting practices to check in on the wellbeing of their workforce to better gauge how employees are coping, take account of any personal responsibilities they have, and how they are handling their current workload.
A Gallup report identified that workers with enough time to complete tasks and who felt supported by their line managers were 70% less likely to suffer burnout.
One-to-one check-ins are vital for employers to provide the right level of communication and support, creating a culture of disclosure where employees can openly discuss areas where they might be struggling with burnout; be it in their work or personal lives.
Likewise, a daily team huddle in the office or online can facilitate staff sharing their concerns and a more holistic view of the practice workload. Job satisfaction can increase when employers actively work to relieve stress from overworked individuals by encouraging more open conversations about employee workload. With this, team leaders must also be mindful of setting realistic and achievable deadlines, allowing as much autonomy and flexibility as possible.
Discourage e-presenteeism
It is thought amongst many HR leaders that the steep rise in e-presenteeism - where accountants and accounting industry employees feel obliged to be online as much as possible outside of their contracted hours, even when feeling unwell causes employee burnout symptoms, such as additional stress, depression and anxiety.
This increase is likely due to concerns over job security, where many employees work longer hours to demonstrate their commitment and productivity levels to their employers.
Accounting practices can counteract this by fostering a 'switching off' culture. Not just in terms of advocating finishing work at a regular time each day or encouraging them to take annual leave, including additional initiatives such as banning 'out of hours' emails, introducing additional holidays or incorporating mental health training sessions. Time away from day-to-day work is essential for burnout recuperation..
A firm leader should also enforce this by setting clear expectations for their employees around working hours and productivity. There are also many tech applications that accounting firms can actively invest in to help embed a healthier workplace culture for their employees, such as Headspace or Mojo. They can help redefine the working mindset, build healthier thought patterns about work and boost overall team morale.
It may also be worthwhile investigating an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), such as CA Wellbeing, offered by CA ANZ. It is free for all team members to access the mental health and wellbeing support services, information and educational resources they need.
Lead with empathy and kindness
Accounting practices in Australia have been navigating significant change and disruption over the past few years, resulting in differences in how and where we work and clashes in our work-life balance like never before that have led to burnt out employees.
Both organisations and, at a more direct level, line managers should lead their teams by example, helping them to set healthy boundaries, understanding that a drop in productivity may happen and making time to listen to what workers have to say, as opposed to diving straight into work.
This feedback can also be garnered through pulse surveys to gauge how employees feel. However, there's also a lot to be said for practice managers letting down the veneer of the 'work persona' and enabling employees to share details of themselves, their lives and their families to encourage greater inclusion and connectivity in a close-knit team setting.
Those in leadership roles within accounting practices should consider engaging with external support programs that could help them to manage burnout and work-life balance.
"Counting on U" is one such program that could help reduce the burnout affect in employees. It is a mental health first aid course for client-facing accountants across Australia and New Zealand, led by Deakin University. It can help accounting professionals develop their skills and knowledge to support their wellbeing. The "Counting On U" program can also be offered as complimentary continuing professional development (CPD) for eligible accountants.
Supporting leadership wellbeing
We also need to make sure that accounting firm team leaders are looking at ways they can prioritise their mental wellbeing too.
Heads Up, an initiative launched by Beyond Blue, is Australia's mentally healthy workplace alliance. It encourages small business owners, such as accounting firm practitioners, to prioritise their own self-care and reduce isolation. Heads Up advises that they can do this by accessing professional support through business networks, mentoring or confiding in a fellow business owner.
Steps towards a healthier workplace culture
To summarise, many simple steps outlined in our article that, when followed, could make a significant difference in helping accounting firms protect the overall mental wellbeing of their employees, helping to prevent the burnout of employees, leaving them to feel more positively and confidently about their workplace.
Some steps we've outlined, such as embedding a workplace culture that reinforces wellbeing for employees may take some time to execute, so accounting firms must be patient and plan effectively. Still, the result will be happy, healthy accounting professionals who feel motivated to come to work, which will make the entire process worthwhile.
Your accounting firm should also consider ways to incorporate efficient and reliable accounting practice software that can help optimise and simplify processes and track workflows, to help reduce the impact on burnout in your practice.
We have helped many accounting firms implement practice management software to deliver a better work-life balance for accounting professionals in Australia and New Zealand. Talk to one of our specialists today, and let's see what will work best for your accounting practice.