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Moss Adams Counts Downtime Among Antidotes for Pressure-Packed Cycles

There’s no shortage of stress that comes with crunching numbers under deadline, and the local office of public accounting firm Moss Adams LLP has a remedy to keep employee burnout at bay.

It has a wellness program to promote the mental and physical health of staffers. The goal is to help staffers do their pressurized jobs feeling as fresh as possible, even when the workload ratchets up.

Carisa Wisniewski, managing partner of the 66-employee office, says accountants in her office go through two pressure-packed periods each year: January to mid-April, when tax, auditing and consulting chores peak, and from August to October, when there are filing deadlines for year-end financials for nonprofits and for-profit client companies.

“We have peaks and valleys in our annual cycle,” said Wisniewski. “We ask people to work hard and play hard and provide as many arenas to balance out commitments as possible.”

When working on Saturdays is necessary the firm provides free on-site child care, and if back muscles tense up too much during a work time crunch, there’s an on-site massage available. There’s a quiet room available for anybody needing a little time to regroup. And everybody has free access to a gym in the building to get in stress-busting workouts when wanted.

Ounce of Prevention Goes Far

Other options are reduced work schedules when a child is sick, and webcasts offering tips on how to reduce stress. This year, the firm provided free flu and H1N1 swine flu inoculations for staffers and their families.

Amy Dawson, sales and marketing manager at the firm, says extra steps were taken to ward off any flu virus in the office. The hot water temperature was raised in bathroom faucets, and their flow times increased to kill germs more thoroughly when washing hands. And hand sanitizers were placed all around the office.

Sick employees are encouraged to stay home until they’re better, rather than exposing fellow workers to their illness.

“When they come back (healthy), we say ‘Thank you,’ ” says Laura Cyphert, senior audit manager at Moss Adams.

The firm also sees giving through community philanthropy as a worthy way to ward off stress. The office has organized donations to military ships, The Humane Society, and a food bank.

A year ago, says Cyphert, a group dubbed “Forum W” was formed to help develop and retain talented women at the firm through charity and team events. One of its activities included a women’s business suit drive. Suits were donated to help women re-entering the job market look their best for professional job interviews. Another event of the group is an upcoming Saturday beach cleanup.

Wellness Activities Build Cohesion

And the group is organizing a panel to visit Moss Adams offices here, in Orange County and Los Angeles to help women develop their own leadership styles.

Organized soccer, volleyball and baseball teams are offered at the firm, while distance runners on the staff have teamed up to train for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.

Wellness activities have increased at the firm during the last 18 months, which have been trying times for almost everyone in a down economy. Aside from keeping the staff healthier mentally and physically, the activities “definitely build cohesion,” said Wisniewski.

Wellness options continue to evolve with the needs of employees, she adds, and they are continually assessed for their value.

“We try to instill a culture where people have a balanced perspective on their professional life,” she said. Ideas for activities and participation in them come voluntarily from the staff, she says, not from any orders from the top.

“Public accounting is one of the most stressful jobs you can have,” said Cyphert. “We maintain a work/life balance to handle stress.”

For instance, some accounting firms require workweeks of 85 to 90 billable hours during busy seasons. Moss Adams limits the high-season workload to 55-hour weeks, notes Cyphert. Beyond that, staffers are encouraged to use all of their paid time off so they can recharge themselves from intense work conditions.

Time Off Allowed During Fire Crisis

Cyphert knows from personal experience that the company is conscious of the needs for time off, especially in a time of personal crisis. In 2003, she lost her home in a fire, and called the office to say she wouldn’t be able to come to work the next day. Her boss let her use his house and take as long as she needed to recover before coming back to work. She took two weeks off and wasn’t charged any paid vacation time.

And during the 2007 wildfires that destroyed Southern California homes, the office was closed to allow staffers to be with their families and protect their homes. And, says Dawson, the company didn’t want staffers to drive in the heavily polluted air from the fires.

“The question is, ‘How do you have a demanding career and not have that be your whole life?’ ” said Cyphert. Creating a work culture that allows for family time, personal interests and community activity, she says, has been the answer at Moss Adams.

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