Tips for Women in Their "Flex-Schedule" Years
Source: The Marc Rosenberg Blog
The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from a blog post by Marc Rosenberg.
The CPA profession has struggled mightily to retain women all the way through partner. At a time when nearly 60 percent of the professional staff of firms is female, only 15 percent of all partners are women.
A $10 million client firm recently announced its new managing partner: A female long-time partner in her early 50s. I haven't seen statistics on this, but if 15 percent of all partners are female, I'm quite sure that no more than one to two percent of managing partners are women. The new MP talked to me about the period in her career when she raised her children and worked a flex-time schedule. Here is her advice:
- Have the right work ethic. Her examples were:
- Flex-time women who are raising children should be fastidious about checking in with partners and staff to stay in touch and stay on top of things.
- Be willing to modify your schedule as needed. There will always be times when client demands don't fit with the flex-schedule you are working.
- Alternate days off with days on to maintain visibility and accessibility throughout the week.
- Look at flexibility as a two-way street. Whatever the arrangement, it must be good for the firm and good for the flex-timer.
- Take ownership of what you do. This is true of full-timers as well, but it has a deeper meaning for flex-timers, who may not appear to be taking ownership because they work less.
- The day before your day off, remind key people you work with that you will be off the next day. This helps ensure that you, your colleagues and the firm don't skip a beat.
For the complete post, read “Advice From A Female CPA Firm MP.”
From The Marc Rosenberg Blog, April 3, 2012, http://blog.rosenbergassoc.com/.