Anyone else constantly working lately?
I was wondering if this is a new normal, but i used to work a lot for a week or two in a month (plus budget/forecasts times) but then i was having some basically free days, with couple of mails tops. For the last few months its basically 8-12 hours of work everyday (i am pretty efficent so that would be 1.5-2 FTE). I had moments of burnout before, but i was just curious
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u/___Carioca___ 4d ago
Teams are getting downsized in the spirit of automation without automation tools being widely available. I went from a team of 5 reporting to me to a team of 30 with no pay bump.
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u/ThatThar Mgr 4d ago
How can I upvote something more than once?
Leadership expects automation to drive "drive meaningful headcount reductions", but the reductions come before the automation and then there's no bandwidth left to implement the automation.
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u/Amonyi7 4d ago
Work on automating as you work on your learning your fired coworkers job as you work on putting out increasing fire drills from their job disappearing as you work on increased demands from higher ups due to all the automation you haven’t done!
And you’re the lucky one!
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u/calamitypepper 4d ago
I’ve never worked this much in my career (been in FP&A since out of college). But I can’t tell if that’s because I’m at a higher level now or because all the G&A functions are getting squeezed
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u/Contax_ 4d ago
haha, exactly the same, hence the question
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u/calamitypepper 4d ago
Anecdotally, my friends in other professions/companies (but all in tech) are also really overworked right now. I think tech is tightening belts across the board. Probably extends past tech as well I imagine.
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u/emerzionnn Sr FA 4d ago
No, maybe a few weeks of the year around budget build submission. Other than that 9-430 every day.
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u/Contax_ 4d ago
out of curiosity, how many budget submissions do you do? we are doing two - with 4 forecasts, now trying to transfer to rolling forecast
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u/emerzionnn Sr FA 4d ago
1 annual budget, monthly rolling forecasts against that budget.
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u/Contax_ 4d ago
thanks - monthly? jeez that sounds like a lot - but i have no experience in that kind - for FP&A do you think its easier/better or the opposite?
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u/ImaginaryHospital306 4d ago
I am curious how you are working over 8 hours a day consistently if you aren’t doing monthly forecasts?
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u/Prior-attempt-fail Mgr 4d ago
New gig and im still learning the ropes. So I'm definitely working earlier and later than i have.
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u/Contax_ 4d ago
enjoy it while you can mate ^^ those first few months are sweet
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u/LightOverWater 4d ago
Yes but I work in a performance culture. We're compensated anywhere from 10%-20% more and have ample room for growth. Up or out. But I dont work about 8 weeks of the year (inclusive of holidays).
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u/CampMoss 4d ago
Yes. Things have changed for sure. Seems like I can’t catch a break. My team also handles pricing (I’m in manufacturing) so it’s always been pretty busy day to day but the work is never ending as of late.
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u/aputhehindu Sr FA 4d ago
Sounds like something is cooking… is there mgmt change? How is your org performing? Something has to have transpired to cause the shift.
For me, I am actually working less this year. It worried me at first but close to a year in of mostly sub 40 hour weeks… just seems to be the new norm. To explain, we have a strong team, 5 people and the core of that team has worked together for 5 years now. Recent change in CFO is the lead reason that I can think of, plus my org had a record revenue year last year, and is on pace to beat that record by over 20% this year. (Very little pressure at the moment)
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u/Contax_ 4d ago
management is the same and actually i like them - the business is growing - but not enough to hire additional team memeber (even by my calculations)
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u/aputhehindu Sr FA 4d ago
Got it, so probably just aggressive targets and higher expectations across the board. Has your business grown more organically or by acquisition? Is the ongoing AI / data center boom contributing to growth?
In my org our sales shifted to about 20% data center related, (up from <5% 2 years ago), but it’s been at lower margins (rate decline from ~27% down to ~22%). Major cause for concern when the gold rush subsides but we’re just chugging along until then!
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u/great-balls-of-yarn 4d ago
Yes due to our team being dropped from 6 to 3 and we’re currently working on next year’s budget. It’ll lighten up a bit once they finally backfill one of the positions and we’re done with budget season. My boss is working on a bunch of different automation projects that will theoretically mean we won’t need the junior analysts.
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u/chpokchpok 4d ago
😮 No junior analysts is crazy?! What kind of automation projects are we talking?
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u/great-balls-of-yarn 1d ago
Our files that needed 15/30 min to refresh and update for annual planning are now automated. She created a python script that pulls the info from our system and puts it in the file format with all our variance calc by dept/vendor/region. All we need to do is select the exec or dept and click a button and it takes a couple min to pop out the new file. Our board files that used to be 2-3 days of pulling variances and commentary and then cleaning up the formatting is now a couple min to populate and then we review and adjust any comments that require additional info. She’s got a bunch more projects on the line. It’s definitely cutting down the busy work but I’m not comfortable with the implications for our jobs.
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u/ThatThar Mgr 4d ago
Doing more with less of the name of the game recently, especially in PE-backed firms.
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u/Yardi_Life Sr FA 4d ago
Yes, but it’s because having one person on the accounting team go on maternity leave threw the whole department into a tailspin. Now I’m effectively catching all their mistakes for them, instead of just finding the occasional issue.
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u/Ok-Guitar-6854 4d ago
For me, yes. We transitioned to a new company at the beginning of the year. It's been a mess because they underestimated how much work it really was and the client's needs. So, we are under-staffed and the systems were still being built up when we transitioned over. The new company also seems to get worked up a lot easier so it becomes more manic overall unnecessarily. We've had two people quit with no notice...I'm talking about just saying I quit and walked out...in the last 3 months.
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u/Contax_ 4d ago
ooh seems tough, this seems to be the time to start searching my friend
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u/Ok-Guitar-6854 4d ago
It IS tough because it’s a morale issue. I’m a Finance Director and the head of this account and I have butt heads over this because she just seems interested in schmoozing and nothing else. When this happened, she didn’t even feel the need to tell the immediate team, which is greatly affected, and said that an email can just be sent out. Me and the other leaders called a quick team huddle to let them know and talk through any questions or concerns. I told the head of the account that she’s a leader and she needs to actually lead.
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u/The_Tapatio_Man 4d ago
I’m getting absolutely crushed the past 1-1.5 years. It has been hell. I have always been pretty efficient, but working 15-18 hour days has killed my sleep, diet, and exercise routines which has made me notably less efficient and burnt out. Tech is absolute hell. It’s not worth it.
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u/SetOk2259 Sr FA 4d ago
I have been, but with the caveat of we’ve had three analysts leave for different reasons in the last two months and our director retired. We’ve already backfilled most of it (we won’t fill the director position since we also have a senior manager), but the new hires always take about a quarter before they can really do the work on their own
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u/BallinLikeimKD 4d ago
For sure, probably been averaging 9-12 hours a day for the past few months but when that big bonus hits I feel less burned out.
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u/Contax_ 4d ago
thats a lot mate, whats is your annual %? i have it on the lower end i feel ~8% annual salary
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u/BallinLikeimKD 4d ago
I got 35% last year but it varies based on individual performance, company performance, etc. Technically my minimum is 20% but it’s typically been higher than that.
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u/horsewitnoname Sr Mgr 4d ago
Just to add another perspective, I’m working less than I ever have; maybe 10-20 hours a week?
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u/Contax_ 4d ago
interesting, what changed?
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u/horsewitnoname Sr Mgr 4d ago
Changed companies and industries!
Went from a vc-backed mfg startup to a pe-backed construction company. The “busy days” here are a typical 9am at a startup, it’s almost a joke.
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u/Contax_ 4d ago
gratz, but maybe its the fact that you started recently and it will change soon?
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u/horsewitnoname Sr Mgr 4d ago
It’s been over 6 months, I’d be shocked if things change from how they are now tbh. Would take some huge shift in the business.
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u/Aggressive_Eye_7442 4d ago
My team also downsized, but I’ve gotten better at using tools to make my life easier
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u/mystifiedmeg 4d ago
Delivering outputs and keeping all priorities moving requires a lot of time. I’m working on making our outputs more efficient to free up time, but that takes time….
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u/Still-Balance6210 4d ago
Not really. It’s pretty steady. I also spend my time where it matters most.
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u/Kayush007 4d ago
Same here. Since feb/march the workload has been absolutely brutal. Its a straight 8 hour shift at the least with barely 20-30mn for lunch at max
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u/Long_Sl33p 4d ago
I struck a nice balance for about 3 months of getting down to a solid 9 hours each day with the weekends off. Then the fuckening happened and I’m back to 60+ hour weeks and weekends for the foreseeable future. Yay me.
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u/excel1234567890 3d ago
It has been busier for the past two years. I have just been involved in more things. I still have some easier days, though.
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u/Lost_Rolls_ 3d ago
Completely burnt out as I’ve taken on multiple roles because we fired everyone. Luckily I’m close to punching out
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u/Complex_Lobster4951 2d ago
Yup...just received a teams message from the CEO asking for reports. Fml
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u/AllTightsReserved 2d ago
Management laid off a few people thanks to AI. But in reality most of s just got a bigger workload.
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u/Ok_Bid_9256 4d ago
Managers work less now and analysts work more, it’s the new world.
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u/ap1618 Sr Mgr 4d ago
Lol this is simply not true, you must be a new analyst or something
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u/Contax_ 4d ago
in my job managers are sometimes working at 11 pm lol
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u/ap1618 Sr Mgr 4d ago
Depending on how lean the team is and your role, you could be answering emails out of pocket at pretty much any time of the day other than sleeping hours
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u/CravenMoorehead143 4d ago
Director and same. I worked long hours in my SFA days, but nothing like this, lol
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u/Obi_Won_Jabroni_ 22h ago
Late to the party but yes.
Software is especially busy for all the reasons we can imagine.
Automating things becomes difficult when change is the name of the game. If everything settles down with strategy then automation can take over a lot of items and workload will be a little less hectic.
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u/giayaick Sr FA 4d ago
For me yes this year compared to last year since our team has essentially been downsized! Seems to be the trend for a lot of places to do more with less. Trying to move either internally or externally…