SANTA ROSA -- Burr Pilger Mayer, an accounting firm with about 47 employees in the North Bay and 370 throughout all six offices in the Bay Area, aims not to be typical. Most CPA firms push their workaholic employees to crank out high volumes of work, especially in tax preparation, with high pressure at year’s end.
“We focus on quality, not volume,” said Carol O’Hara, Burr Pilger Mayer’s managing partner in its Santa Rosa and St. Helena offices. The company may shed clients that don’t fit its culture and cause undue stress. “If it isn’t working from a mutual standpoint,” she said, “we move on.”
“We make sure people work in a sophisticated, challenging and satisfying environment, with great clients,” Ms. O’Hara said. “But they also get to have some balance in their lives. That tone is set at the top.”
As the North Bay’s leader in the firm, she models that culture. “I’m a mom, I have a family,” Ms. O’Hara said. “You can be a successful professional and also have balance. This doesn’t have to be a crushing business.”
During the summer when her kids are out of school, she goes to work later. “They were home, sleeping in, staying up late,” she said. “Now that they’re back in school, I’m at the opposite end. Everybody gets up early and gets out. I try to get home by 6:00.”
She makes it a priority to have dinner every night with her family. She laughs. “It’s probably more important to me than it is to my teenagers,” she said. “I minimize weekend work” so that she’s present when her family is home.
“I know how to kick it in if I need to,” Ms. O’Hara said.
All the employees are located on one floor together, and partners’ office doors remain open. There are about 40 partners. “We try to create a lot of communication,” she said, with bi-weekly all-team meetings. “I keep them informed about what’s going on with the larger firm.”
BPM holds core values that spell crickets: community respect, integrity, creativity, knowledge, excellence, teamwork and success.
Burr Pilger Mayer prides itself on its community involvement with such nonprofits as Kid Street Learning Center, Canine Companions and Catholic Charities. Employees helped spruce up the grounds at Hanna Boy’s Center in Sonoma, and packed food boxes at Redwood Empire Food Bank.
She acknowledges employees who have babies, win Women in Business awards or pass the CPA exam. “We keep an eye out for people working a lot of hours and spread the work out so it’s a team effort,” she said. During busy seasons, the firm brings in lunches and has cocktails or beer on Fridays to break the monotony and stress.
