Trying to balance work and family is getting a bit easier for many employees: the 2012 National Study of Employers (NSE) showed that “U.S. employers are providing their employees with more options to choose the times and places in which they work. “ For those struggling to juggle spending time with their family and spending time in the office, the recent proliferation of flexible schedules is a big relief. The NSE Survey shows a rise in the following options offered by employers:

• Flex time (offered by 77 percent of workplaces, up from 66 percent in 2005).
• Flex place/telecommuting (63 percent, up from 34 percent).
• Choices in managing time (93 percent, up from 78 percent).
• Daily time off when important needs arise (87 percent, up from 77 percent).

The industry making the biggest strides in this effort? Accounting.  This NY Times article points out how the accounting firms, especially the Big 4, are paving the way in terms of letting employees figure out how best to balance personal commitments and work.

PricewaterhouseCoopers boasts the Full Circle program, which lets new mothers take several years off to be with their children, with the understanding that they keep abreast of industry changes.  Ernst & Young offers its employees a chance to arrange their schedules as a group to accommodate personal commitments.

Many accounting firms estimate that increased flextime options have enabled them to cut turnover drastically, and this dramatic rise in retention can save companies millions in hiring and retraining costs.

Aside from encouraging flextime schedules, the accounting industry is making strides in finding other ways to ease the struggle between work and life. Deloitte & Touche looks to the future with a mass career customization (MCC) program, based on the idea that every employee’s life goes through a range of changes over a 40-year career. This institutionalizes accommodation for those different phases so staff members can pursue an extended long-term partnership path. In fact, firms have realized that a happier employee means a more productive employee. They have observed that this increase in productivity has generated more revenue for the firm.

Although these programs are still works in progress, they are steps in the right direction to making it possible to have a family/personal life, without sacrificing your work life. The benefits they have derived from their employee satisfaction initiatives give other industries incentives to follow suit.