A Fine Balance

By Rosalind Stefanac

When Guy Marchessault leaves his office at the end of the day, he doesn't want his colleagues or clients to reach him. "If I'm away from the office, I'm away so forget about me," says this father of four who has been a CA for 17 years. "A lot of people work Saturday and Sunday and I can count on one hand the number of times I've worked on a weekend in the last few years," he says.

A human resources and audit partner with BDO Dunwoody in Montreal, Marchessault is proud of the fact he is able to devote quality time to his wife and children without worrying about clocking the hours at work. "I'm not reducing my workload necessarily, but if my commitments are in line with what I'm delivering, it's all okay," he explains. When a recent work commitment coincided with a holiday event with his children, for example, Marchessault just rearranged his schedule so he could attend both. "It's a personal choice to have a certain quality of life outside of work."

Marchessault is evidence of a growing number of CAs who are making work-life balance a priority. In fact, recent surveys conducted by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants identify work/life balance as a top priority among members when it comes to choosing a job. It's a mindset that's particularly prominent among the younger set. A January 2006 survey of members under 35 showed that a majority (69%) of respondents rated work-life balance as a very important factor in their current work environment and 77% said a lack of it was the most common reason for leaving their original training firm. "I can see it from the junior people we recruit," says Marchessault. "We tell people that they're not going to be working 60 hours a week and that's more important than money."

Pascal Poirier is a prime example. A 25-year-old senior consultant with Deloitte & Touche in Montreal, Poirier recently took six weeks off (half of which was unpaid) to teach at a children's hockey camp. "My colleagues were supportive because they knew I had a good reason for taking the time off as I was giving that time to the children of the community," he says. "Finding a job that has this kind of flexibility is extremely important to me."

For Helen Mallovy Hicks, a reduced workweek has been the standard since her first child was born 14 years ago. While she started off at an 80% work schedule when her daughters were infants, she now has a 95% arrangement that ensures she gets the extra holiday time when she needs it. "I get to spend quality time with the children when they're off at Christmas and in the summer and still go to all the parent/teacher interviews and sports tournaments," she says.

A partner in the valuation and strategy advisory group at Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Toronto, Mallovy Hicks is part of a group of about 45 people, of whom a good number have opted for flex arrangements to spend more time with family, or to pursue interests and travel. "One manager took six months off to travel with his wife before having children and we held his job for him," she says. "He just had his first child and took paternity leave as well." A partner sabbatical program at PWC also allows partners to take an extra three weeks off every five years. "I was the very lucky beneficiary of this program this past summer with seven weeks off," she says.

Accommodating flex arrangements is only really successful through teamwork believes Mallovy Hicks. "We're all beneficiaries of this teamwork. When my colleagues want to take the time off, I'm more than willing to pitch in and help them." The fact that there is a big pool of skilled professionals to spread the work around also ensures it's never too onerous for any one person, she says.

Communication with colleagues is key, agrees Vancouver CA Dallas Leung, manager, corporate finance and commercial services at TSI Terminal Systems Inc., and a father of two. "I let my boss and the people that report into me know what's important to my schedule," he says. "I try to get out on time Tuesdays so I can attend my son's soccer game and it works effectively—everyone knows that staying late on Tuesdays is not an option."

But even those CAs who don't have the luxury of colleagues to back them up are finding ways to incorporate balance into their lives. Carolyn Cohen, an independent training and human resources consultant based in Toronto, decided to start her own business seven years ago because of the flexibility it provided. "I didn't think any one area of my life should be all-consuming," she says. "I never left work because there was another obligation, I left it because it was enough work for the day."

Working for herself means Cohen can take her dog for a walk in the middle of the afternoon or drive a friend to the airport. "It's not that I'm working less but there is a flexibility to it and I like that." She says she keeps the workload manageable by knowing when it's time to walk away. "I've learned to be less of a perfectionist than I used to be and if something isn't perfect I can live with that."

For John Gunn walking away meant leaving a firm he'd spent 32 years at. "I gave my notice without knowing what I was going to do," he says. "I'd been on a treadmill for so long, sometimes a glorious one, but a treadmill nonetheless." Although he was recruited to director of the western CA School of Business (CASB) while still employed, he opted to take six months off before starting his new position nonetheless. "I was essentially doing things I'd wanted to do for a while but hadn't had a chance to," says Gunn. This included a 40-day vacation with friends and family, various courses, writing poetry and music, volunteering and taking many a long walk along some of Canada's scenic trails. "It was marvelous and a real opportunity of a lifetime to set my own agenda."

According to Maclean's annual list of Canada's Top 100 Employers, a number of the big CA firms are doing a commendable job in accommodating this growing need for flexibility in an effort to attract the best and the brightest in the field. The profession is responding the needs of its members, believes Barbara Vigilante, former manager of the Work/Life Balance and Women's Initiatives Executive Committee, formed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Although companies may have policies in place, Vigilante says the real question is if people are actually using them. "The key is to find out what the culture of the organization is and if people feel freely able to use [these policies] without penalty," she says. "The reality is that going on a flex work arrangement might delay progress in your career but it's a tradeoff you take."

It's a tradeoff that both men and women are willing to take more and more, says Vigilante. "We know that women having children is one of the catalysts for workplace flexibility but it has also broadened as something that affects everyone," she says. "We know that new fathers are involved more than ever in children's lives and they are pushing the envelope."

Phillip Gagle, president and chief executive officer for The Institute of Chartered Accountant of Bermuda, says he made a commitment during the birth of his first child never to miss a single school event or activity of importance to his children. "Being a father instantly became my highest priority—no compromises," he says.

In a competitive environment, however, leaving a job for several months inevitably means a potential for missed opportunities, says Marchessault. In addition to apprehension about a boss' view on flex arrangements, Marchessault says competition from other colleagues may hold employees back from taking advantage of company policies. "Upper management may be supporting them to take the time, but they compare themselves to their colleagues and it's tough to cope with that."

In an effort to help employees deal with issues like these in their quest to find the perfect balance, the CICA created a work-life balance committee in 2005 modeled around Vigilante's group (www.cica.ca/worklife). Comprised of CAs from across the country in various work environments, the committee's goal is to raise awareness about work/life balance concerns, share best practices and eventually become a forum where employers and employees can discuss issues. "A lot of members have good examples of what worked for them and the more we can share that and extract best practices the better," says Committee Chair, Moira Bryans of Vancouver. "Individuals really have to take responsibility for making those work-life decisions that will satisfy themselves and their employers."

Georgina Tollstam, a partner at KPMG's tax division in the Greater Toronto Area, says the key is to be realistic about what you can take on if you're on a flex arrangement. Tollstam was promoted to partner while on a four-day week (a schedule she continues to maintain even now that her children are out of the house at university), but she says it's not always feasible to progress at the same rate as someone working full-time. "I don't think if you work four days a week you can necessarily say ‘I'm going to be the leader of this initiative and I'm going to have a huge client base'," she says. "The frustration of some people who can't make it work is that they're trying to do everything at home and at work and something has to give."

On the flip side, Tollstam admits there is the danger of being relegated to the routine assignments on a flex arrangement.

"Most CAs are highly driven, motivated people," she says, pointing out that even those on reduced workweeks should be given the opportunity to take on more challenging work. "People may be willing to sacrifice a day off to be able to do a challenging assignment from time to time—they shouldn't be looked over."

Lynn Pratt, a partner with Deloitte & Touche (DT) who has been on an 80% work schedule since becoming a mother to twin boys seven years ago, believes employees just aren't exploring the opportunities available to them. "I think firms are more accepting than people think they are," she says. While she works five days a week, Pratt has the flexibility to attend to her children's appointments when needed and leave early every day. "I definitely don't work as hard as people who are working 100% because I want to be guilt-free when I go home and have dinner with my kids," she says.

With a large percentage of new partners at DT being women who also want work-life balance, Pratt expects this shift towards flex arrangements to become even more prominent. "When you have those situations at a partnership level, it has to filter down because there is a better understanding of what it takes to balance multiple objectives," she says.

Tollstam agrees. "I think intellectually all the firms recognize this need to be flexible," she says. In her own group, for example, Tollstam has several people away on maternity leave and several others who have taken leaves to pursue educational opportunities, tend to elder care or devote time to various interests outside of work.

"We're very focused on retaining talented people because the marketplace is getting smaller," she says. "I've never refused anyone who has come to me. If you have a good person who works for you, you'll do what you need to do to keep them happy."

Helen Mitchell, a senior manager, financial services at Ernst & Young is a prime example of someone who has managed to progress professionally while maintaining a flex arrangement that allows her to spend time with her daughters, aged three and six. When she started her four-day-week five years ago, she was in professional practice where client interaction was minimal. A year ago, her superiors convinced her to go back into audit with a high-profile financial institution. "At first I was worried with client-service full-time and the hours involved, but it hasn't impacted me at," she says. While Mitchell says she may have to work the occasional fifth day, or check her Blackberry on her day off, she always makes up for it later. "You have to be flexible, but you also have to be good to yourself."

For more information on the CICA's work-life balance committee, contact Karen Duggan at Karen.duggan@cica.ca.