Work-life balance in public accounting: An experimental inquiry into supervisor support for subordinate career progression

Abstract

Work-Life Balance (WLB) continues to be a concern of audit professionals because the long work-hours environment can have negative effects for both individuals and organizations. Audit firms have continuously committed to helping employees with the creation of work-life balance and well-being programs. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the firm's official commitment to work-life balance is reflected in supervisors' evaluation of subordinates. This study conducts a between subjects experiment using actual audit supervisors as participants to capture responses to ways that a hypothetical staff person might pursue WLB. As part of this, a hypothetical non-financial WLB metric used as part of the formal performance evaluation process is examined as a potential tool for strengthening the effectiveness of audit firm investments in WLB. The results show that WLB alternatives still have negative career consequences, and these consequences would not be mitigated by the use of a formal WLB performance evaluation metric. Although career consequences of WLB are not significantly related to gender, performance evaluation is not gender neutral.