Life Quality - Your Priority

Peter W. Aykroyd, FCA, CA-CIRP, CFE

The Changing Work Environment

A friend of mine recently mentioned that he had noticed that I was speaking to another CBA Conference. Referring to my indicated topic, he asked "What does a 60-year-old Bay Street Chartered Accountant, conditioned by the work ethic know about a balanced life style?"

It's not so much what I know or whether I am an authority with a list of credentials, but what I'm learning and sharing. It's what I have observed and logged over a 37-year professional career that has included both small firm, small town experience and large firm, big city experience. What I have observed is a progressive shifting of values that are impacting upon the professional workplace, the nature of professional careers and the quality of life for the Canadian professional.

That is not to say that a younger generation of lawyers, accountants and other professionals, as one senior partner of a Toronto law firm recently remarked, "Don't know the value of hard work!." I believe they do know how to work hard; but, they appear to be placing a different interpretation and emphasis on "value".

In the last 25 years, there has been an incredible acceleration in the working pace of most, if not all, professions. Technological changes have been a tremendous contributing influence. We have faster computers, the internet, a plethora of immediately available information, e-mails, voice-mails, instant faxes, online electronic reporting, electronic filings, and so on - all promoting an aggressively faster rate for producing a professional work product. And, in case you might have a chance to think, an opportunity for a few precious minutes to yourself while en route to the office or while walking up to court, there is always the cell phone to ensure you're not "wasting" any time. But work product equals money, so we readily endorse the latest technological development in the interests of saving time, calling it an "advancement." We adopt a new vocabulary with terms such as "multi-tasking." When I get back to my office after five days out of town, I can expect an average of 150 new e-mails and at least 30 voice-mail messages waiting for me. That's even after leaving a message saying I'm away and I won't be picking up messages for five days.

You know, failure to pick up e-mails and voice mails and respond while on a vacation has almost been considered as a subject for amendment to the Criminal Code. I have a partner who regularly checks his messages and follows them up while away on what he calls a "vacation." I tell him he never really takes a vacation, he merely relocates his office to the cottage or a condo in Florida.

As we embrace these new technologies, we often do so without assessing their impact on our work environment and, in turn, upon our personal lives. We employ the latest systems and new products that help us respond and produce our professional work product at a faster pace without first considering how these new systems and products may well cause our lives to become pressured, more fractured and unbalanced. But then, how often do we hear "Time is money" and, since money is a key motivator, it's easy to rationalize away our personal needs and accept that a faster working pace is a better working pace to produce greater monetary rewards.

To exacerbate this process, when we deliver our services at a faster pace, our clients grow to expect a faster pace as being the norm for our professional services. Hence, we create a vicious circle with greater expectations, greater demands and an ever increasing pressure to perform our services in a shorter period of time.

Adding to this ever accelerating pace that so profoundly affects our working environment and our wellbeing, is the added impact of professional competition. Once again, the "faster is better" adage comes into play and is coupled with, "We can do it better faster." Professional pride enters into the picture and, again, we justify our competitive thrust and response. But as my wife's English Granny used to say, "Pride must bear pain." So we do bear pain and herein lies what strikes me to be an enormous irony.

As professionals, we often say "All I have to sell is my time." Indeed, much Canadian legal work is charged to clients on a fee-for-time basis. If we can accept that our much higher hourly billing rates today are only a factor of our higher cost of living, increased prices and the reduced purchasing power of the dollar, then the only true fee-for-time variable is the hours we spend to produce the same work product. The following is an example:

Let's say that in 1983 you took 100 hours to complete work product "A". Your hourly rate was $200 and your fee was $20,000. But these were 1983 dollars having a value today of $40,000. In 2003, you can complete work product "A" at a competitively faster rate - let's say in 70 hours. Your billing rate is now $400/hour and your fee is now $28,000. Herein, lies the irony! Today, you have $28,000 but to achieve the same purchasing power as in 1983, you still need to generate an additional 30 billable hours to make up the $12,000 shortfall. By working faster to produce work product "A" in 30% less time, you have generated only 70 billable hours rather than 100. As such, you still need to produce 30 additional billable hours to sustain the same comparative economic result. This requires considerably more effort and additional pressures, taxing your energies to acquire more clients, attain more work assignments, become familiar with more sets of facts, and bill and collect from more parties. And it's too late to turn back and work at a slower, more human pace. Our clients are conditioned to accept the faster pace as the norm. They now won't expect 100 hours for product "A", unless perhaps we cut our billing rates dramatically. Even then, our competitors may be only too prepared to discount their fee and burn themselves out to get the same client assignment.

The ultimate irony may lie in the possibility that with year-to-year progressive increases in hourly billing rates, ostensibly to keep pace with the cost of living and the declining purchasing power of the dollar, the increasingly driven, possibly inhuman work pace that we professionals have created for ourselves may be the primary factor that is preserving a market for our services.

The Changing Work Ethic

Following a previous address on a similar subject to a group of professionals, I was approached by a fifties plus partner of a mid-sized Canadian firm. He told me he was concerned about his health and his lack of joy. I asked him "What do you do to feed your soul"? He answered, "That's just it - nothing. Every weekend I'm working at the office getting ahead on my files but the only other ones there are my own contemporaries. The younger members of our firm don't seem to be as work bound. Do I have it all wrong"? I saw him the next day and he told me he had been doing a lot of thinking. He told me "All I do is work. In fact, all I know is my work. My identity is my work. I think I need to do something for myself".

Work is about "doing". Life is about "being". How much time do you permit yourself an opportunity for introspection; time just to be, to take a walk, to read a book, maybe just time to dream? How often do you take the time to consider the effects on yourself of the accelerating pace and growing pressures of being career bound?

A striking statistic - especially for men - is that most heart attacks occur first thing Monday morning and in the first six months of retirement. On Monday morning, there is the fear of facing another week of heavy work demands; whereas in the first six months of retirement, there is the fear of being useless, having no more work demands to face. Unfortunately, a growing number of women are expanding this statistic. The trend is a tragedy.

Recently, I met with a lawyer friend who, after 15 years of seemingly successful practice with the same large firm expressed tremendous dissatisfaction and frustration. He told me "The sole motivating force within our firm is money. There is no soul". Being in a second marriage with a younger woman (also a lawyer) and expecting their first child, he said he had considered taking a block of time off as paternity leave but realized this would be a career limiting move. He told me he felt trapped and desperate.

I hear from a number of professionals who are my own contemporaries, that another "trap" is the long accepted practice and philosophy of "eat what you kill". In the case of many law firms, there may be no compulsory retirement age, but the ability to work longer beyond age 65 only compensates for the fact that there is no retirement program, no pension, and no provision for old age other than what you can earn and save by extra efforts and financial acumen during your years of practice.

Although I hear complaints that many professional practices are slow to react to the changing personal needs of their professional people, I have observed a fortunate growing trend towards recognizing and accommodating these needs within the structure and policies of a number of firms. During the past 15 to 20 years, changing personal needs and attitudes have created a change in the philosophy, policies and operations of professional practices. A growing number of professional firms are providing arrangements for flex work hours, subsidizing recreational and health activities for professionals and introducing other programs directed at the individual's life-work balance.

A recent poll of professional accounting firms revealed a loss of faith on the part of younger professionals that the system will reward you for loyalty and hard work. Another poll, indicated that 47% of female executives would quit their jobs for a better life - work balance. Yet another survey by Catalyst, showed that 67% of generation X professionals surveyed (i.e. those born between 1964 and 1975) would like a compressed work week.

The above and similar surveys reflect a growing desire, especially on the part of younger professionals, to put family and quality of life before career. In dual-career families, very often both spouses want to play an equal role in parenting. Likewise, the need for personal time away from work presents itself in the case of elder care of parents and, similarly, the care of other older family members or even elderly close friends. Surprisingly, in Canada, 90% of elder care is presently being provided by family and friends.

The latter trend can only be expected to increase due to Canadian demographics. For example, in 1985, only 13% of Canada's population was over the age of 65. By 2025, it is projected that this percentage will double. By 2050, it is predicted that at least 49% of Canadians will be more than 65 years of age. You might ask how your professional community is addressing this and similar critical issues.

Creating Change for Yourself

While the previously mentioned trends for recognizing the need for life-work balance are progressing, such progress is often met with resistance, established attitudes and reluctance to change, especially when the perceived impact of such changes is that they are costly and do not fit in with the expected time demands of the professional practice. In addition, resistance may come from the individuals themselves by holding on to the higher income expectations that they believe should accompany the type of professional career they have chosen. Hence, the pressures on the reformer seeking a better life-work balance can be tremendous. The choice of more balance between life and career is, therefore, often paired with some financial sacrifice and the recognition that a serious change in lifestyle is likely necessary.

The human condition recognizes the need for greater personal fulfillment. If work is all about "doing", we cannot allow ourselves to be so work bound that we are unable to embrace a sense of "being". In so many professional working environments, however, work and personal life seem to exist separately and independently. So often when it comes to personal interests and personal needs, work takes the lion's share of our time. It's not surprising that so many people reflect back upon their school years with great sentiment and often a sense of loss.

Several years ago, I had breakfast with a good friend whose career had skyrocketed through his hard work and exceptional skills to the executive level with a major bank. I asked him about his summer vacation plans with his family but he advised me that he hadn't taken a break for 8 years. I remember him telling me "The Bank and my work are everything". A few months later he collapsed at work with a heart attack and died a relatively young man. Since then, the bank has continued successfully. I often wonder if he would still be there if had taken better care of himself.

Whether you are a judge, a senior partner in a law firm, a younger associate, or in the early stages of your legal career, the importance of a healthy life-work balance requires constant awareness and attention. It's simple to fall into an all-work rut. Emerging from it can become increasingly difficult where your personal time and personal life are neglected. If your work becomes your sole identity and the basis of your self-esteem, then retiring from work or loosing your position must present the most difficult and terrifying prospect of your life.

Attaining a healthy life-work balance is no mean accomplishment. Five years ago at your CBA Conference in Newfoundland, I talked about finding such balance through approaches including contacts with nature and wilderness retreats. Nature experiences are just one way of finding a time and place to find yourself. Personally, I still find that when I am focused on my work it is easy to ignore my own personal needs. I really have to be aware of those needs and apply some discipline so that work does not occupy all of my energies.

Finding an outside hobby or interest may just be the beginning of your own personal re-alignment. Where one or two specified "vacation" weeks a year represent the only time you take off for yourself, however, there is little opportunity to consider how to integrate your working life and your personal life. For me, unwinding after work requires an hour or two of transition. I like to cook. So for me, cooking provides both a transitional process and a relaxing therapy. Also, I find that my work is so cerebral that I need to do something physical. Over the last year, I have been building a 40-foot long dry stone wall. This not only gives me great pleasure but thusfar, after moving about six tons of rock and aggregates, it has helped me to lose 10 pounds to counteract and balance my cooking activities.

Five years ago, I provided you with an audio-visual retreat. This time, I have for each of you a card with 12 personalized questions - each serving to remind and challenge you to integrate and balance your work and your personal life. At first glance, some of these questions seem fairly simple and straight-forward. Putting them into practice, however, may take some real effort, including setting priorities and identifying opportunities for serving yourself as well as serving your clients. For example, booking an appointment with yourself means actually blocking off time in your daily or appointment calendar. Similarly, knowing when to say "no" requires recognition of your own human limits so that you don't take on a greater work load or impose unreasonable deadlines on yourself.

Years ago when my wife and I had a young family, we used to make a date with each other each Saturday night and at least one night during the week. The kids were sent off to bed early and we had some quieter adult time and an opportunity to remember ourselves as a couple. If you don't make the effort and if you don't ask, you needn't expect any change in your life-work pattern. The old adage, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy/or Jill a dull girl" may have more application to your own situation than you would really like to believe. Ten years ago, when I took a 3 month sabbatical from my firm, I was delighted to find that when I asked for support, my partners were more than willing to cover my clients in my absence. At that time, it took me 5 weeks to unwind and forget the work pressures that I had been facing. Part of the rewards of that sabbatical was that support. Yet I know, that had I not asked for it, it would have been assumed by my partners and clients that I was quite satisfied to continue working at the break-neck pace that I had allowed to become my status-quo for several years.

Whatever personal interests you pursue and whatever your career objectives may be, recognizing the need to give both an equal opportunity and finding a comfortable integration of the two can enhance both aspects of your life dramatically. I wish you health, happiness and balance in your life and in your career and I hope that in some way, the anecdotes and ideas that I have presented today will give you some inspiration and guidance for the future.

Reprinted by permission of Peter W. Aykroyd, FCA, CA, CA-CIRP, CFE
Partner, BDO Dunwoody, LLP