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Job-hunting accountants value flexibility and the ability to work from home the most, while financial considerations are more important for those working in law or finance.
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Work/life balance trumps salary for accountants, Seek data shows
13 May 2024
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Accountants value work/life balance and flexibility over their salary, with 41 per cent considering the ability to work from home (WFH) a “must-have” in a job, a new survey has found.
Seek’s Laws of Attraction survey found accountants were more likely to be concerned with work/life balance compared to other industries such as law or banking and finance, with 15.5 per cent rating it the top “driver of attraction” when looking at new job opportunities.
“The ability to work from home, or somewhere close to home, is a key driver for these professionals, in comparison to other industries, as are other flexibility factors such as the ability to work flexible working hours or additional leave policies,” Seek said.
The survey featured the responses of 385 accountants collected between January 2023 and February 2024.
It found that out of the respondents who rated work/life balance as the most important driver, 41 per cent considered the ability to WFH a “must-have”.
Additionally, 47 per cent said they would be “delighted” if a job had a WFH option, and only 11 per cent said they were “not bothered” either way.
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A job located close to home and flexible working hours were both rated must-haves for 33 per cent of accountants, and one-quarter also said additional leave was essential.
The second-most important factor in a job was salary or compensation at 14.3 per cent, the survey found.
By contrast, legal professionals placed equal importance on salary and work/life balance, with just over one-third saying the ability to WFH was a "must have" and only 27 per cent needing flexible working hours.
Respondents working in banking, financial services and superannuation were more likely to rate salary as the top driver of attraction (16.1 per cent) compared to work/life balance (14.9 per cent).
After work/life balance and salary, accountants rated a working environment (10.9 per cent), management (10.2 per cent) and career development (9.4 per cent) as their top five drivers.
Seek said these suggested accountants were increasingly driven by organisational culture.
“Diversifying interests – as seen in other industries, the weighting of importance against work-life balance and salary and compensation has slightly declined, as other drivers such as career development, culture of the organisation and social and environment responsibility incrementally increased,” it said.
“This shows that what accounting professionals want right now is becoming increasingly nuanced.”
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