How excessive workload management can address burnout and mental health.
A case study from KPMG, covered by the FT.
"January to the notorious “busy season”, when audit firms race to sign off on clients’ annual financial statements, as staff work late nights and weekends.
It is a rite of passage for those new to public accounting, as well as the reason many decide the career is not for them.
[Note: Most companies caught in Endurance Culture use rite of passage language as a way of rationalising a sub-optimal solution that can be changed]
Results:
"KPMG said the number of people working more than 50 hours in total across the eight weekends of busy season for public company auditors fell from almost one-third three years ago to less than one-fifth last year — and it is on course to reduce it further in 2024. Twenty-nine per cent of staff worked no weekends at all last year, up from 18 per cent two years before"
The big 4 upstream solutions are: responsive workforce planning, realistic workload management, dynamic flexibility, and AI productivity gains.
Experiment with these in 2024.
Link to article: https://on.ft.com/48sQFHS
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