Reduce Post Busy Season Turnover Through Better Leadership

By Donny C. Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA
Founder & inspiration architect, center for accounting transformation

Busy season is often treated as a productivity proving ground. In accounting, it marks a series of peak stress cycles—tax season, compressed deadlines, and sustained cognitive load. The assumption is familiar: we just need to push through these few rough months, and we’ll be okay afterward.

But the reality is different. Burnout will occur (and recur) if people aren’t allowed to recover properly, and just “pushing through” doesn’t have to be the only option.

Burnout Is a Structural Issue

The Center for Accounting Transformation’s Staffing Strategies research paints a clear picture:

Only 47% of respondents believe their teams have reasonable workloads;
68% report some level of burnout within their accounting staff; and
More than half report ongoing turnover, even in teams with high work satisfaction and belonging.

This matters because it challenges a common narrative.

Burnout is often blamed on individuals—poor boundaries, weak coping skills, lack of grit. But when burnout is widespread across firms, roles, and regions, it stops being a personal issue and becomes a leadership and work design issue.

Why Burnout Peaks During “Productive” Seasons

Our research highlights a revealing paradox. Even as burnout and turnover persist, 51% of respondents report high employee satisfaction, and 65% report a strong sense of belonging within their teams.

In other words, people don’t leave because they dislike the work or the profession. Many leave because the work (and recurring burnout) becomes unsustainable.

Peak seasons concentrate:

Prolonged high workloads,
Little opportunity for recovery,
Pressure to maintain precision under fatigue, and
A culture that rewards endurance over sustainability.

The result isn’t just exhaustion—it’s a slow erosion of focus, judgment, and long-term commitment—resulting in turnover.

Good Work Design is a Leadership Skill, Not a Personal Failing

Task management is often treated as an individual responsibility: manage your time better, prioritize your tasks, push distractions aside. But our research shows that three out of four organizations do not believe their staffing strategies are successful. When teams are understaffed or stretched thin, team performance breaks down by design—not by choice.

Leaders can shape better work design through:

Staffing decisions,
Workflow design,
Expectations around availability, and
Willingness to say no to low-value work.

When work is designed to prevent stretching staff too thin and enable teamwork to overcome peak periods, it can help prevent burnout and increase staff retention.

Good Work Design Enables Self-Care and Recovery

There is also a self-management aspect to preventing burnout, and it’s about recognizing what individual staff needs are for self-care. Self-care is often misunderstood in accounting. It’s not about indulgence or disengagement. It’s about capacity management and being able to perform at your best.

Our staffing research found that organizations reporting greater success tend to emphasize (in order of importance):

Technology and process optimization,
Intentional culture-building ,
Better workload distribution, and
Structured people development.

These are not wellness perks. They are operational choices.

Organizations can enable better self-care by:

Designing work processes that minimize the impact of peak periods,
Creating space for recovery after peak periods,
Reducing unimpactful work through demand management, and allowing leaders to model practical boundaries and have compassion for individual needs and boundaries.

Without recovery cycles built into work design, efficiency simply enables more work to be piled onto already stretched teams. The profession has invested heavily in efficiency—automation, standardization, and optimization. But efficiency alone doesn’t reduce burnout if demand continues to rise. Our research highlights that less than a quarter of respondents believe their staffing strategies are successful, even as firms push efficiency harder.

The Business Case for Focusing on Retention

Burnout has consequences. Research cited in the staffing study notes that replacing an employee can cost up to three times their salary, making retention far more cost-effective than constant rehiring.

Firms that fail to address burnout risk:

Losing experienced professionals,
Undermining client service quality,
Creating leadership gaps, and
Damaging the profession’s long-term appeal.

Leading Through Peak Stress

“Busy season” doesn’t have to be a stress test that teams barely survive. It can be a leadership moment—one where focus is protected, recovery is planned, and sustainability is built into the system.

Recurring burnout isn’t a sign that people can’t handle the work. It’s a sign that leadership needs to redesign how the work gets managed.

Help Your Team
Give your team the gift of self-care with personal resilience guidance from accounting professionals and mental health experts through the Center for Accounting Transformation. (Courses range from free to $50.)

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