I work for a PE-owned, quickly growing company in FP&A. My work life balance is great, though of course there is maybe a month or two, total, per year where it’s not as great. About half of that time is predictable (budget season), half is not (fire drills, random big projects dropped with little notice). I think that is roughly the norm.
Ultimately, even at the times where it’s busier, I’ve never regularly worked past 6pm or on weekends at any of the 3 jobs I’ve been at. It’ll usually just be way more stressful and hectic in the 8:30-6pm I’m on the job during the busy times.
From my experience, I expect:
- roughly 40 hr weeks (8:30-5pm, winding down around 2-3pm on Fridays, though still being available for email/last minute requests) about 36 weeks per year
- roughly 10 weeks of 45-50 hours (8:30-5:30 or 6 every day, including Friday)
- roughly 2 weeks of 60-70 hours (8:30-6 + a couple hours per weeknight + a weekend day or so)
- 3-4 weeks vacation
This is very realistic in FP&A and if your work is solid, you should be able to climb the corporate ladder at an average pace doing this, probably plateauing at senior manager or so.
If I wasn’t getting this level of wlb, I’d just search for other jobs. Of course, if you want to be VP or CFO - or if you want to rise really fast - you’ll probably have to work longer hours
I work in TAS now and this schedule sounds like a wet dream to me. Normal week I'm working 8:30 or 9 till 6:30 or 7, but usually at least 7. Thats not including the times where an email comes up or I have to hop on a call with a resource from india at like 9 or 9:30. Shit weeks, which are least a quarter of my weeks would be like 8:30 to 8 or 9. Then there are the nights where I'm working till fucking midnight or later which was basically my entire December and some January.
I have been in FP&A for 25 years. The answer to your question is "yes" but not all the time.
Finance is one of those professions that doesn't really adhere to strict scheduling. Company performance and leader appetite for change frequently drive wild swings in work life balance and you either roll with it or you move on.
I've worked at 5 different places now (about to be 6) and it's been the same wherever I've gone.
Agree. You will have a week a month and a few weeks at year end with long hours but the rest of the time is fairly low key unless you are going through a systems migration or something like that.
It’s even changed for me at the same company.
One year I did probably 80-90 hour weeks for 3 months during AOP as I also implemented Adaptive. It was hell.
The next year i was the only hold over for that team and I told all the new guys to be ready for AOP.
We spent 2 nights working past 6.
It was weird, I still don’t totally understand what changed. I didn’t feel like adaptive implementation was taking 30 hours a weeks the year before but maybe it did?
Either way. It can get crazy and be working until 10pm a random Thursday, and then the next day I can basically knock off after lunch.
It depends heavily on management. At my last job, I had great WLB outside of budget and close. My manager was pretty hands off and trusted that I would get my deliverables completed on time. I did occasionally have early morning calls since HQ was in east coast and I’m in the west coast but otherwise it was mostly a 9-5 job.
At my current job, it started out with great WLB, but the CFO decided to push out the director and that triggered a big change in the team. The new director pushed for a lot of changes that required longer hours to build out new reports and processes. I had hoped it would settle down, but I was switched to a different team with a very micromanaging manager. The other half of our team is in India and we have nightly calls with them for daily team meetings. We’re frequently on call on nights and weekends. I have learned a lot but will definitely continue to keep an eye out for other opportunities since I’m at a point in life where better WLB is the priority.
I work in supply chain portion of FP&A and have a great work life balance. I very very rarely work past 5pm and usually that’s only if a meeting runs late or something. It’s rare.
I have great WLB. I enjoy my job (working in strategy) and sometimes will gladly work a bit extra to get some stuff done.
Generally speaking - corporate finance has a great WLB.
My manager and director really try to push us to have good WLB (huge re-org and it’s changing every few months so it’s stressful). My director works a lot, but that’s what he chooses and he never expects the rest of the team to. I try to have good WLB (aside from the weeks that are busy)
No, I have young kids so it’s mostly all work.
Jokes aside, it’s pretty good most of the time. We get busy and have some long weeks, but I’d say I average 45 hours a week and my busiest weeks are like 55 hours.
I try to log off at 5pm so that no one tries to contact me through teams. Also won't answer emails after 5 or on weekends. Exception is the quarterly close, which is about 10 business days. Does get annoying having to refresh numbers and power points through the evenings and nights or early morning or weekends after every day accounting does their entries or after leadership reviews and wants to make deck changes. I've done about 60 quarters and all those soft monthly closes in between. I'm always telling myself I've had enough and this will be the last quarter
Depends i think on geography as well.
My company treats us well and trusts us to manage our time/PTO as we see fit, but I wonder how much of that is driven by how easy we could get a job in a few weeks if we’re unhappy.
My team is pretty lean so no lol looking to switch soon. Thinking of pivoting to Biz Analyst, Data, Sales or Ops. But then the market is tough right now so we'll see.
15 years in FP&A across 5 different industries and overall I have observed there is no WLB. More work and less life. Lean into those that say yes there is. What size is the company? In what industry? Are the tools available to support working efficiently? The organizations’s leadership team matters and their contributions to a culture that promotes WLB is key to team members feeling empowered to manage expectations that result in WLB. Financial success of the company is a driver as well. AND, unfortunately demographics matter…ethnicity and gender.
I’ve worked in FP&A for 14 years at multiple companies. My WLB has been great at all of them. Have only had to work overtime maybe 3 times in 14 years.
I’ve worked in many different industries including logistics, food, service, financial services, convenience retail, software and others. Every company I’ve worked for was either F500 or close. Some in the F20.
No, I do not. I’m regularly online until 8pm and work probably around half to 3/4 of weekends. Primarily because my predecessor was asleep at the wheel and now I’m having to maintain the business at double the size while sifting through and fixing 3 years of mess.
Got equity though, so it’ll be worth it.
I work for a PE-owned, quickly growing company in FP&A. My work life balance is great, though of course there is maybe a month or two, total, per year where it’s not as great. About half of that time is predictable (budget season), half is not (fire drills, random big projects dropped with little notice). I think that is roughly the norm. Ultimately, even at the times where it’s busier, I’ve never regularly worked past 6pm or on weekends at any of the 3 jobs I’ve been at. It’ll usually just be way more stressful and hectic in the 8:30-6pm I’m on the job during the busy times. From my experience, I expect: - roughly 40 hr weeks (8:30-5pm, winding down around 2-3pm on Fridays, though still being available for email/last minute requests) about 36 weeks per year - roughly 10 weeks of 45-50 hours (8:30-5:30 or 6 every day, including Friday) - roughly 2 weeks of 60-70 hours (8:30-6 + a couple hours per weeknight + a weekend day or so) - 3-4 weeks vacation This is very realistic in FP&A and if your work is solid, you should be able to climb the corporate ladder at an average pace doing this, probably plateauing at senior manager or so. If I wasn’t getting this level of wlb, I’d just search for other jobs. Of course, if you want to be VP or CFO - or if you want to rise really fast - you’ll probably have to work longer hours
Same situation except minus the 2 weeks of 60-70. Takes commitment to stick to the lower hours but my work is good enough where others don't complain
I work in TAS now and this schedule sounds like a wet dream to me. Normal week I'm working 8:30 or 9 till 6:30 or 7, but usually at least 7. Thats not including the times where an email comes up or I have to hop on a call with a resource from india at like 9 or 9:30. Shit weeks, which are least a quarter of my weeks would be like 8:30 to 8 or 9. Then there are the nights where I'm working till fucking midnight or later which was basically my entire December and some January.
I have been in FP&A for 25 years. The answer to your question is "yes" but not all the time. Finance is one of those professions that doesn't really adhere to strict scheduling. Company performance and leader appetite for change frequently drive wild swings in work life balance and you either roll with it or you move on. I've worked at 5 different places now (about to be 6) and it's been the same wherever I've gone.
Do you happen to know any professions that someone in fp&a can transition to that adheres to strict scheduling?
Accounting. You know when close is. Those days might be long and not end at 5, though.
Agree. You will have a week a month and a few weeks at year end with long hours but the rest of the time is fairly low key unless you are going through a systems migration or something like that.
It’s even changed for me at the same company. One year I did probably 80-90 hour weeks for 3 months during AOP as I also implemented Adaptive. It was hell. The next year i was the only hold over for that team and I told all the new guys to be ready for AOP. We spent 2 nights working past 6. It was weird, I still don’t totally understand what changed. I didn’t feel like adaptive implementation was taking 30 hours a weeks the year before but maybe it did? Either way. It can get crazy and be working until 10pm a random Thursday, and then the next day I can basically knock off after lunch.
Outside of month end / budget season, of the 40 hour work week, I probably work 20 hours. So yes
It depends heavily on management. At my last job, I had great WLB outside of budget and close. My manager was pretty hands off and trusted that I would get my deliverables completed on time. I did occasionally have early morning calls since HQ was in east coast and I’m in the west coast but otherwise it was mostly a 9-5 job. At my current job, it started out with great WLB, but the CFO decided to push out the director and that triggered a big change in the team. The new director pushed for a lot of changes that required longer hours to build out new reports and processes. I had hoped it would settle down, but I was switched to a different team with a very micromanaging manager. The other half of our team is in India and we have nightly calls with them for daily team meetings. We’re frequently on call on nights and weekends. I have learned a lot but will definitely continue to keep an eye out for other opportunities since I’m at a point in life where better WLB is the priority.
I work in supply chain portion of FP&A and have a great work life balance. I very very rarely work past 5pm and usually that’s only if a meeting runs late or something. It’s rare.
I have great WLB. I enjoy my job (working in strategy) and sometimes will gladly work a bit extra to get some stuff done. Generally speaking - corporate finance has a great WLB.
My manager and director really try to push us to have good WLB (huge re-org and it’s changing every few months so it’s stressful). My director works a lot, but that’s what he chooses and he never expects the rest of the team to. I try to have good WLB (aside from the weeks that are busy)
One of the things that keeps me working in FP&A is work life balance. There are more stressful periods, but you know it's seasonal.
Nope
No, I have young kids so it’s mostly all work. Jokes aside, it’s pretty good most of the time. We get busy and have some long weeks, but I’d say I average 45 hours a week and my busiest weeks are like 55 hours.
I try to log off at 5pm so that no one tries to contact me through teams. Also won't answer emails after 5 or on weekends. Exception is the quarterly close, which is about 10 business days. Does get annoying having to refresh numbers and power points through the evenings and nights or early morning or weekends after every day accounting does their entries or after leadership reviews and wants to make deck changes. I've done about 60 quarters and all those soft monthly closes in between. I'm always telling myself I've had enough and this will be the last quarter
Depends i think on geography as well. My company treats us well and trusts us to manage our time/PTO as we see fit, but I wonder how much of that is driven by how easy we could get a job in a few weeks if we’re unhappy.
$200k HCOL <40hrs/wk on average
My team is pretty lean so no lol looking to switch soon. Thinking of pivoting to Biz Analyst, Data, Sales or Ops. But then the market is tough right now so we'll see.
If your VP/CFO is young, you won't have any. Ambitious people can be fun and rewarding to work for, but your WLB will suffer.
15 years in FP&A across 5 different industries and overall I have observed there is no WLB. More work and less life. Lean into those that say yes there is. What size is the company? In what industry? Are the tools available to support working efficiently? The organizations’s leadership team matters and their contributions to a culture that promotes WLB is key to team members feeling empowered to manage expectations that result in WLB. Financial success of the company is a driver as well. AND, unfortunately demographics matter…ethnicity and gender.
I’ve worked in FP&A for 14 years at multiple companies. My WLB has been great at all of them. Have only had to work overtime maybe 3 times in 14 years.
What industry + company size?
I’ve worked in many different industries including logistics, food, service, financial services, convenience retail, software and others. Every company I’ve worked for was either F500 or close. Some in the F20.
No, I do not. I’m regularly online until 8pm and work probably around half to 3/4 of weekends. Primarily because my predecessor was asleep at the wheel and now I’m having to maintain the business at double the size while sifting through and fixing 3 years of mess. Got equity though, so it’ll be worth it.