It feels as if we have been sprinting a marathon over the past two years, implementing back-to-back stimulus packages and business support schemes, all while delivering day today business as unusual garnished with home schooling, working from the dinner table and never-ending video calls.

Our profession has been tasked with providing certainty in uncertain environments and projecting confidence in challenging scenarios. We have delivered.

For many, however, this has come at a high cost personally and professionally. Whether it’s time away from loved ones, hours spent on pro bono services to support struggling clients or lastly, and importantly, the impact on our mental health and wellbeing, we have all been affected in different ways.

Helping you carry the load

An important part of CA ANZ’s role as a professional body is to support the mental wellbeing of our members and to be a community to lean on and turn to when times get hard.

Picture: CA ANZ President Kate Boorer FCA.

“An important part of CA ANZ’s role as a professional body is to support the mental wellbeing of our members and to be a community to lean on and turn to when times get hard.”

Whether it’s providing support to our 12 members in Tonga who have been significantly affected by a tsunami caused by a volcanic eruption or reaching out to our two members living in Ukraine to offer any assistance. Or even in my own backyard here in Australia, by pulling together resources to help businesses and communities impacted by the floods.

CA ANZ offers complimentary counselling through our Employee Assistance Program, which is available to all members and their families. It’s there to assist individuals experiencing all that life deals us, including the financial, emotional and social pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as natural disasters.

More informally, many members have talked about the support our mentor program provides, as either a mentor or mentee, and My CA is a great place to connect with like-minded members looking for help on a technical matter or just wanting to connect.

Personally, I’ve found the support my professional network provides has been invaluable over the years. Many of those fellow CAs I met as a graduate, a member in commerce or more recently in my time on Council have become trusted friends and mentors. Great relationships start small; they start with ‘hello’.

Broader workplace issues

At CA ANZ we are also ramping up to tackle some of the issues affecting our workplaces more broadly, such as attracting and retaining talent and creating more inclusive and diverse cultures. We launched our Narrowing Your Gender Pay Gap playbook earlier this year, which has tangible solutions for creating more inclusive and diverse pathways into and through our profession. 

Finally, my heartfelt thanks and gratitude go to our incredible members who have made a difference in the lives of clients, colleagues and communities in which we live and work.

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