CFOs share their personal strategies to find work-life balance

"My calendar is available to all of my reports, and I make sure to block off personal time. This helps both scheduling and influences them to take personal time as well," a CFO shared.

Chief financial officers are credited for managing risks and planning for the "what if" moments in an organisation. And a new study shows, they're taking on more and more responsibilities - from environmental, social, and governance matters; mergers and acquisitions; to corporate strategy.

In a global survey of nearly 600 CFOs by Egon Zehnder, titled 'The Super CFO', it was found that 82% of CFO say their role has significantly grown in the past five years. 

The good news, however, is that these added responsibilities haven’t drained CFOs. They continue to be energised by the role, and most of them report their work-life balance is “OK” (51%) or good (29%). From an industry perspective, CFOs from the services sector report the best work-life balance, with 41% rating it “good,” compared to only 25% of CFOs in the consumer sector.

"My calendar is available to all of my reports, and I make sure to block off personal time. This helps both scheduling and influences them to take personal time as well," a CFO shared.

In addition to the above, six CFOs shared their personal strategies to find work-life balance in the report:

1. “Family, sports, a deep hobby in a completely different area (modern art) and, last but not least, gardening.”

2. “Eating healthy, sleeping eight hours a night, limiting work dinners and drinks, and switching off completely during holidays.”

3. “Never playing golf, and instead practicing Budo and going out with my wife on weekends.”

4. “Cycle to work and never drive.”

5. “I don’t try and achieve a separate work/life balance. I let them seamlessly flow together and it’s worked for 25 years.”

6. “Keep having the passion for what we do so that there’s no balance to achieve; work is part of life for good, generating energy, passion and memories, as any other life experience.”

What are your personal strategies to find work-life harmony? Let us know at editorial@humanresourcesonline.net

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Photo / Egon Zehnder,'The Super CFO' report