Busy Is as Busy Does
It’s that time once again – Marcum’s first busy season of the year has arrived. Between now and April 15, you will find our offices humming around the clock, as we work to meet the tax filing deadline for our business and individual clients. In the accounting industry, busy season is a rite of passage for newly minted CPAs, but for those of us with time under our belts, it’s actually not as bad as you might think. While it’s true that Marcum never sleeps during busy season, our people do. In fact, we make it a priority to make sure our partners and staff are taking extra good care of themselves during our high stress seasonal swings.
No matter what business you’re in, there are times of the year that are busier than others. The following applies to any company trying to manage the ebb and flow of business.
Eating – I am what I eat. Sometimes I’m M&M’s or a scoop (bowl) of ice cream (I admit it), but most of the time I try to be an apple or hard boiled egg. Seriously, you just have to experience one sugar crash to know that junk food snacking is no way to maintain peak performance when your stamina needs to be at full strength, unless you’re talking Oven Baked Lays. Marcum delivers fresh fruit to every office every week expressly for this purpose. During busy season, we also serve breakfast and dinner with a selection of healthy choices so our people stay well nourished, no matter when they are working.
Exercise – Stand up and be counted. You already know that Marcum is “FitBit Central.” We believe in exercise and put our money where our mouth is by incentivizing partners and staff to walk, climb and avoid too much sitting. We will be rolling out another FitBit challenge in a few weeks to help get our people through the final throes of this busy season. I’m also noticing that more and more people are using standing desks in our offices. They say that sitting is the new smoking. We may have to move the desk chairs out to the designated cigarette areas in the parking lots – anything for the cause.
Sleeping – Any CPA worth his or her salt can count sheep on a balance sheet. But can you get a good night’s sleep? Sleep is probably the best thing we can all do to keep our synapses firing at full power. Count as many Z’s as you can.
Leisure – All work and no play makes Jeff a dull boy. The nature of the beast and, of course, Marcum’s commitment to superior client service mean an extra heavy workload during peak seasons. But that doesn’t, or shouldn’t, mean everything else falls to the wayside. Surveys have shown that just half of U.S. employees use all of their vacation days, and more than half of those who do take their PTO work while they’re supposed to be relaxing. We’re all pretty driven, so it’s extra important to give yourself a break. You schedule your work, so you have to schedule your fun, because if you don’t plan it, it may not happen.
On that note, enjoy your weekend everybody!
