Are you and your accountancy firm making the most of the longest day?

June was the lightest month.

The 21^st June saw the longest day, the summer solstice, with 16 hours of daylight in the UK. The summer solstice is something we’ve been celebrating for thousands of years.  Even today Stonehenge is a major draw as thousands of people gather to celebrate the longest day.

So is this an opportunity to work even longer hours but still be light when you get home?

Or is it an opportunity to make the most of your garden, your family and friends or your favourite pastime?

The research suggests accountants are screwing it up!!!

Accountants are well-known for working long hours.

According to Economia, 2014 saw the number of accountants working 50 or more hours per week rise from 28% to 30%.  A recent survey from specialist finance recruiters Robert Waltersy also found that a third of accountants work more than a 50 hour week.

http://economia.icaew.com/news/october-2014/accountants-working-longer-hours

What’s more worrying is…

A survey by recruitment specialists Randstad Financial & Professional, found that accountants were at the bottom of the list for happiness with the balance between their work and their personal life.

Tara Ricks, Managing Director of Randstad Financial & Professional said “...the survey results showed professionals in financial services and accountancy are feeling overstretched, as a result of teams being stripped back during the financial recession...” which suggests that accountants are often feeling that work is taking over.

https://www.accountancylive.com/accountants-unhappy-work-life-balance

All the work we do at Remarkable Practice is focused on achieving remarkable results with the accountancy firms we work with. Yes this involves profit and capital value growth. It also involves more holidays, shorter working weeks, more long weekends and a happier working environment too.

So what can you do whilst experiencing the lightest, sunniest time of the year?

Are you brave enough to:

1. Work out what One Thing you should stop doing (ideally something that shows up every week, and something you don’t like doing)?
2. Work out how you delegate the One Thing brilliantly to someone else in your firm (or to someone outside your firm – we know of one firm who now works with a dedicated full-time PA working out in Manilla in the Philippines for just US $600 a month – he’s now stopped doing lots of things!)

At the very least consider how you enjoy life more and can move up the scale of the work-life balance register.

http://www.sage.co.uk/business-advice/running-a-business/guide-great-work-life-balance.html

Why not tell us what you have done to stop doing things and how it’s changed your life-work balance?​

Paul Shrimpling