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Resilience in challenging times

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19th Mar 2013
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Although many consider the accountancy sector to be ‘recession-proof’, the profession is still under increased pressure as businesses rely on their accountants to minimise their financial difficulties, says Jessica Pryce-Jones.  

This leads to added job stress for accountants, and consequently it has never been more important for management to maintain resilience and keep staff happy and productive.

The productivity of staff is directly linked to their feelings of happiness and well-being in the work place. ‘Happiness’ and ‘well-being’ are not some kind of soft concepts, but can be finely calibrated. Recent research among more than 30,000 managers across a wide range of industries shows clearly that resilience results from happiness at work and job satisfaction. Yet, when examining the accountancy sector specifically, there are some areas where the profession is starting behind the curve.

Given the inevitability of taxes, it may come as no great shock that employees express a higher than average feeling of job security compared to other financial services, 12% higher in fact. But when it comes to feelings of happiness and well-being in their jobs there are several areas where accountancy workers express less satisfaction than their counterparts in other industries. For example, their interest in work is 20% lower than the average and, unsurprisingly therefore, they are 14% less motivated in their jobs.

In addition, employees in the accountancy sector are 16% less confident than other financial services that their job has a positive impact on the world. This may contribute to the fact that the desire to stay in their current job is 12% lower than average – a worrying statistic for managers looking to build a strong, effective team.

But what does this mean for the profession? While employees aren’t worried about job loss they aren’t particularly happy in the jobs that they’ve got and this does not bode well for productivity and performance. Analysis of the iOpener institute’s database shows that the happiest employees are 50% more productive and take only 33% of the sick leave, compared to the least happy staff. Clearly, happiness of staff, and resilience of senior management, has a profound impact on the quantity and quality of output.

With everyone else relying on accountants to solve their financial woes, it is essential for management to maintain resilience and keep staff motivated – otherwise overworked and underappreciated employees may be inclined to jump ship when the next fiscal storm comes.

 

Jessica Pryce-Jones is joint founder and partner of the iOpener Institute for People & Performance, which examines the factors that contribute to resilience and how it can be maintained. To get your personalised, free report measuring your performance and happiness at work complete the questionnaire.

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