Accountants can have a harder time achieving a healthy work-life balance than professionals in other industries due to their jobs’ demanding and high-pressure nature. Common barriers to proper work-life integration include:
- Tight deadlines
- Managing multiple clients
- Heavy workloads
- Constant regulatory and tax law changes
- Juggling responsibilities
Long hours are also a concern, with the average full-time accountant working 47 hours per week. These hours often stem from understaffing due to the current shortage of accountants and fewer people entering the field.
Luckily, there are some work-life integration strategies that accounting firms can tap into to combat these challenges and better support their employees, starting with the implementation of workforce management software.
Why Is Work-Life Integration Important for Accounting Firms?
Work-life integration is the blending of personal and professional obligations in a way that ensures enough time and energy can be poured into each.
Financial services professionals tend to work the most hours of any profession, according to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). This is especially true during the peak season when it’s common for accountants to work between 50 and 80 hours per week.
Spending so much time at work can make it challenging for full-time accountants to feel like they’re putting enough time towards personal hobbies or family obligations.
When anyone is overworked, mistakes and oversights that might normally be caught become increasingly common. Exhaustion, coupled with the responsibilities of handling client’s financial matters and working on tight deadlines, can quickly lead to burnout, which is already a problem that 99% of accountants report facing.
How Workforce Management Software for Accountants Can Help
One of the best ways to help employees maximize their productivity while still maintaining balance is through the integration of workforce management software. Here are some of the features to look for.
Optimize Time Management
More than 40% of public accountants feel the biggest barrier to personal well-being is a lack of time, according to a 2020 study by a financial services technology firm. When employees lack the tools or information they need to prioritize tasks, they can become overwhelmed with an unordered to-do list and unclear expectations.
Workforce management software helps accountants better manage their time with tools for:
- Tracking time
- Creating task lists that can be prioritized and scheduled for completion
- Transparency into each project’s full timeline, including due dates for each segment, who’s responsible, and real-time progress indicators
- Digital calendars to track both work time and time set aside for personal errands and obligations
- Analytics data to see where the majority of their time is being spent
Engage in Capacity Planning
Capacity planning is crucial to ensure your accounting firm has the right tasks delegated to the right people. It also plays a huge role in the work-life balance of your employees, who may be tasked with workloads that may be better distributed amongst the team.
When searching for workforce management software, ensure the system you choose comes with resource allocation tools that ensure the right professional is assigned to a project based on their job description, role, and availability. Having visibility into each team member’s workload and schedule makes it easier to forecast new projects and determine staffing levels.
Empower Employees With Better Organization
Organized employees are productive employees. When accountants are juggling multiple clients and projects at once, it can be easy to overlook an assignment or fall behind schedule.
With workforce management software, accounting firms can:
- Keep all of their tasks and communication in one place so they always know where to find project details
- Collaborate more easily with communication tools and file sharing to avoid unnecessary calls
- Track client deliverables and the profitability of the engagements in real-time.
- Automate simple tasks such as client billing.
Encourage Work-Life Balance With Workforce Management Software for Accountants
The tools within workforce management software can do wonders for an employee’s work-life integration. By helping employees stay on top of their efficiency, projects, and organization, you can eliminate stressors and set them up for higher success.
coAmplifi offers workforce management software for accountants that was built specifically to navigate the challenges of today’s accounting firms. Find out why other accounting firms are using coAmplifi. Schedule your demo now!
