Young Professionals
In public accounting, there's an expectation that young employees need to "put in their time" as we call it. And they need to put in this time because, well, that's what everyone else did when they're a young employee.
I think every generation thinks that the generation that comes after them is lazy and disrespectful. Go and read Musings of an Abstract Aucklander's post on why this is probably not actually that true (see the quote from Socrates near the end.)
The truth is though, times have changed DRAMATICALLY from when our partners (who are in their 40's) were working in their first and second years in accounting, to now.
First of all, we have vastly improved technology. I can get a lot more auditing done in an hour than we could 18 years ago when the partners were new hires. Of course, to some extent we just do more thorough audits these days, but overall, we are getting more work done per person.
In addition, my mother pointed out to me the other day that while my father would work long hours when he was younger, he also came home to a cooked dinner, bathed children, cleaned house and cleaned clothes. He really didn't have to worry about anything except work. Most young people that I know today do not have this luxury. Even if we have a partner waiting at home, typically that partner works full time too. But most of the partners at our firm are male, and most of them come home to my dad's situation each night.
Of course, some of the older folks at our firm are women, or were single at my age, so in the end, everyone still expects everyone younger than them to "serve their time." And it seems reasonable to expect people to work hard to prove themselves, right? But part of me just feels like, with all of our technology, we could be living differently, and working smarter, rather than just continuing the cycle.
Do you think people should work less now than in the past due to higher productivity per hour? Or do you think people will always be pushed to their limits, due to competition? What track did you take when you were just starting out - working long hours, or trying to get a work-life balance right away?
August 23rd, 2012 - 08:26
I can’t say that it equates to “doing ones time”. I think it has something to do with exposing the new members of the team to as much as possible to pull them up. And I could also say that the processes used by the newbies is so streamlined that the older members may not truly know if the newbies learned the task or just how to make it work with the technology. What I am trying to say is that it is a different learning curve and everyone needs to adjust their perspectives. Seniors may be a bit jealous of the progress and how folks have it “easier”. In thier eyes.
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August 23rd, 2012 - 10:03
I hadn’t really thought of that – if I do a good job setting things up now, then the folks who come along two or three years behind me may have less work to do because the process is better.
I think one of the challenges with technology is definitely that you are not learning how to do it 100% the way you would if, for example, you had to finish a tax return and all you had to start with was the blank form. The software definitely makes it easier to get numbers in the right places without having to think about it.
August 27th, 2012 - 14:27
I think serving your time is really just proving yourself to the firm to some extent. In any job new employees generally should be trying to prove they are trustworthy and hard working, showing they’re worthy of more responsibility (and the benefits that come with it).
August 28th, 2012 - 02:58
Great article. I think people cannot work less just because of higher productivity. The demand for work continuously increases with even greater challenges as time changes.
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