You Already Knew This, But...

This is one of those things everyone thinks, but doesn't like to talk about: Accounting firms tell love to tell how options for work-life balance are key components of their hiring and retention strategies. Now comes research indicating that maybe they aren't so whole-heartedly behind the concept, after all.

Three business school professors - Philip Reckers of the W. P. Carey School of Business, Eric N. Johnson of Indiana University and D. Jordan Lowe of Arizona State University - found that employees who take advantage of flextime, telecommuting and part-time work arrangements are often penalized when it comes to gaining visible assignments and earning promotions.

Their findings uncover a disconnect between staff members, who often leave accounting because of the hours involved, and firm leaders who put in their own long hours on their way to the top. A survey published in 2006 by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants found that 70 percent of the men who left the field said work-life balance was the main reason.

"You hear what the firms say publicly about work-life balance, and then you hear what your former students say about their actual jobs," Reckers told in-house journal Knowledge@W.P.Carey. "Hype and reality simply don't jibe … Even partners, after a beer or two, would admit that work-life balance programs are largely window dressing."

The researchers found that workers taking advantage of flextime or part-time hours run the risk of being viewed as "not carrying their load." In addition, men were viewed more unkindly than women in such situations. "Managers may tolerate flextime or part-time work with a woman - maybe," Reckers said. "But if you're a man and you take flextime, the perception is that there's something really wrong with you."

The findings show the need for fundamental cultural change in the accounting profession, the professors said. Alternative work arrangements must be "viewed as an acceptable career path for men and women seeking more balance between their work and non-work lives," they wrote.

Flexibility's price tag: gain time, lose career footing [Knowledge @ W.P Carey]