VideoTruth be told, much of the finance executive's stress level is self-inflicted. After years of pushing to be a strategic partner throughout the organization, as well as its moral compass, many CFOs are victims of their own success.
Some 52 percent of those polled in the CFO survey, in fact, say that today's stress comes from the growing demands from business units for finance support. Nolan, now controller at Summit Technical Service, a privately owned technical-personnel firm in Warwick, Rhode Island, says that his "to do" list has never been longer. "I have to be involved in so many details of this organization, because who else is going to do it?"
At the same time, the unique position of the CFO in the organization — as the confidant to the CEO and the fiduciary to shareholders — creates its own stresses. "Because the CEO trusts you so much, everything seems to land on your desk," says Korn. Moreover, she adds, everyone looks to the CFO as the "pillar of all ethical decisions."
Being that pillar has a downside, however. Many CFOs, in fact, report that their fellow C-levels have to constantly ask them for permission or approval in this post-Sarbox age. "And a lot of executives are resentful of CFOs," says Korn. "They don't like that we have all this regulatory muscle behind us now. They just want to do all this creative work and not have to worry about their fiduciary responsibilities."
J. David Higginbotham, assistant controller and Sarbox project manager for publicly held TiVo Inc., in Alviso, California, has seen that first hand. "Internal controls are viewed as a hindrance," he says. "Especially in Silicon Valley, there's a very entrepreneurial spirit. They just want to get out there and make the company grow. They don't want people coming in and second-guessing if they did the right thing for the business."
Promoter and Protector
When Bill Brand joined Orica, an international mining-services company based in Melbourne, Australia, the company was looking for great things from its North American division. Those expectations were far north of where the division was actually performing.
Brand, who joined as controller, was named finance director of both the North American and South American divisions after a year, responsible for more than $600 million in annual revenues. One of his first tasks was reducing companywide staff by 40 percent, but ironically, he was also charged with reducing turnover in finance.
To stem the tide, he took on a lot of the staff work himself, not wanting to scare off remaining staff. The result: Brand ended up working 70 hours a week, he gained 30 pounds, and his blood pressure skyrocketed. "I wasn't spending any time with my wife and two children," he says. "I took more on my shoulders than I probably should have to insulate my new employees."
To most CFOs, doing the right thing for the business means leading by example. So it is not surprising that CFOs have led the cost-cutting charge of recent years by slashing their own staffs to the bone. Consequently, there is often not enough talent or experience left to get the job done right, which creates even more stress for the entire department.
"If you run your department without appropriate people, you're always under stress. You're always behind," says Higginbotham. "And when you cut too much," adds Brand, now practice director at Hudson Financial Solutions, a project-based finance outsourcing company, there is additional "pressure at the top."
That pressure is compounded by guilt. Stress, after all, tends to roll downhill. And many CFOs believe that reduced staff and greater regulatory responsibilities are forcing staffers back into the traditional "bean-counter" role — the exact opposite of what they hoped to do. Consequently, when pressed, finance executives admit that much of their work overload stems from a desire to shelter junior staffers, who they fear will leave if the pressure gets too great.
"The biggest challenge for me," says Nolan, "is to let people know that there is a path of progress in their own jobs. But with the pressure to keep the head count flat, how do you help people progress when they still have to handle the same stuff, year in and year out?"
As it turns out, many financial executives have proven fairly adept at reducing stress among their staffers — 60 percent, in fact, report that morale in their department is either mostly positive or very upbeat. And it's mostly their own doing — 38 percent say their company is doing nothing to address the pressure on finance employees.
Instead, CFOs have found that what works is the little things. For example, just setting realistic expectations can keep staffers happy, says Harold Kosakoff, CFO and CIO of the California Superior Court in San Diego County. "I tell my staff, 'You make a handful of decisions every year that are job-on-the-line decisions. With the rest, if you make the second- or third-best choice, you make it and you live with it.' " He says that so far, the philosophy has worked. "I've never had a direct report do something so stupid that it got me upset. It doesn't happen when you hire good people."
Employee recognition and morale programs also reduce staff stress levels, although these programs have been maligned by some as a bandage approach. Fred Stepan, executive vice president of The Scooter Store, in New Braunfels, Texas, for example, says his staff takes off one afternoon a month to go bowling or to a happy hour, among other activities. They also have a tradition of decorating people's cubicles on their birthdays. "I went to Notre Dame, and on my first birthday with the company, my staff decorated my office like a Notre Dame dorm room," says Stepan. "My people are very creative, and they take this stuff very seriously."
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