Climbing and remaining at the top of the corporate ladder while being a wife and mother is not as difficult a task as it was years ago. Firms across the world are adopting a flexible work, or flexi-time policy, which enables more women to balance their home and professional lives without feeling guilty about doing so.

Local accountancy firm Ernst & Young is also following that trend and it is making for a happier work environment.

For the last 15 years the company has offered an innovative flexible work arrangement.

Not only has this allowed the firm to decrease its employee turnover, but with the world-wide shortage of accountants, it is also encouraging former professionals to pick up where they left off.

Lorraine Mewett and Wanda Mello are both partners and mothers at the company who have used this option to their benefit.

According to Mrs. Mewett, one of the greatest advantages of the flexible work schedule is that staff can tailor their schedules to complete their 37 and a half-hour work week as they choose, as long as they work the company?s core hours of 10 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.

?Most accountants do not work a regular 9 to 5 day and we are very flexible about when we get the work done,? she explains.

?So if you need to leave to take care of responsibilities, you can. As long as the work gets done.?

Mrs. Mewett says she is thankful for the flexible hours, which allows her to leave work at 5 p.m. everyday to collect her seven-year-old son from school.

After he goes to bed at 8 p.m. she continues her work from home - making up for any time she may have lost: ?You don?t necessarily have to be in the office for this to work.?

While nothing has been formulised as far as labour laws apply in Bermuda, Mrs. Mewett explains that in the US, an employee would put forth a business proposal suggesting they not work Mondays and Fridays, but rather work 14-hour days from Tuesday to Thursday.

?But here we haven?t gone that far yet,? she explains.

?It?s just that we?re more concerned with the output, rather than how you get to it.?

Mrs. Mello has a 19-month-old baby at home and another on the way. In terms of the flexibility work arrangement, she believes she would not be able to be at the office and do her job without this.

As a mother her priorities have changed.

?My daughter has to come first, so just knowing that I can leave at 5 p.m. and take care of her and still be able to get my work load done that day is important.?

The flexible work hours allow her to spend more time with her daughter in the morning and her days are flexible enough should she have to leave to attend to unforseen emergencies, like taking her daughter to the doctor.

Mrs. Mello believes many working women think that in order to get ahead in business and stay there, they have to sacrifice having a family.

?So it comes down to one or the other,? she concedes.

?They don?t see the option of being able to do both by having a flexible arrangement at work. The biggest reason many people leave is because they think they can?t move up unless they put in the hours. This is something firms need to support.?

?In the past the attitude was you have to put in the hours at the office to be seen to be progressing. This attitude is changing as society changes along with people?s values.?

Mrs. Mewett elaborates. ?If firms don?t accommodate these changing priorities and values, they will not get, or keep the best talent. ?Ernst & Young has recognised that and have put in these processes that allow good people to stay with the firm, but still have a life outside of work.?

The one drawback to flexible working arrangements is that one policy does not fit all working environments, however at Ernst & Young client deadlines do not fall within the normal working hours.

Mrs. Mewett believes this is why many companies do not adopt similar working arrangements. Mrs. Mello concludes, ?It does not have to be all or nothing, you just need to find the right balance.?