Is It Possible to Turn a Work Model Into a Growth Engine?

A study published in 2022 by Harvard University Business School that measured employee productivity indicated that high productivity was seen in workplaces that adopted the hybrid model. This finding was reflected in three tested categories: email messages sent, employee satisfaction and the quality of the product or service. Other benefits were a better balance between work and personal life and a reduced sense of "aloneness." The results also indicated a profit for employers who rated their employees as high-quality and efficient.

The results of this study are not surprising to Moran Sherf-Blau, CPA, founder and CEO of Total Finance – one of the pioneers in Israel to encourage the hybrid model. Sherf-Blau’s company provides business support and financial services, including: CFO, accounting, bookkeeping and payroll, for international and Israeli companies in various industries, from the growth stage to accompanying the IPO and beyond. Its clients include public companies traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, in Canada and London, in addition to many start-ups.

"Long before the coronavirus pandemic, we recognized the value of hybrid work and a flexible work environment that allows for a balance between career and family. I am proud of the environment we have created and the fact that we lead the field in the majority of women in management positions and in the very high rate of employee and client retention," says Sherf-Blau.

She adds that during her work at a leading accounting firm, she became aware of the added value of accompanying businesses on their way to success and the lack of women in key positions in public and government companies and boards of directors. Based on these insights she created the founding vision of Total Finance – which takes into account these aspects, from empowering professionals and managers to creating a professional and family work environment.

A real community and family

Sherf-Blau explains that the results of this healthy balance are evident in the employees’ commitment and degree of involvement in key processes with their clients. This is also due to the investment in finding the right candidates, both professionally and interpersonally, as a basis for creating a successful model of responsibility and trust. "The feedback we get from our clients and the fact that the growth in the company's activity comes mainly through recommendations and referrals from existing clients, is proof of the importance of the balance that the company’s employees and managers enjoy," she emphasizes, and adds that activity is focused to create a real community and family in which the staff, children, families and clients take an active part. This is reflected in a monthly activity that is all about giving, such as distributing food to needy families, volunteering in various associations, participating in Good Deeds Day, meetings with Holocaust survivors, and more. In addition, a summer camp is organized for the company's children, at the home of Sherf-Blau. The summer camp operates in August, a particularly challenging period: the long school vacation and the time when the annual 6-month reports for public companies are due.

How do you nurture family life without giving up professionalism?
"This is a question I ask myself every day. As a mother of six, I know that it is possible to create a balance between the desire to develop a career and home and family. The core of the balance is to recognize the need to invest in both worlds – and efficiency and flexibility are the key to achieving this. In the same way that I want to be very present and dominant in my children's lives – something that takes a personal toll on me and that comes at the expense of sleeping hours – so too are the children of the employees and the management an integral part of the office landscape. On the professional side, even when defining the goals, each and every one is given the opportunity to choose the most convenient way for them personally to achieve the goals, which are adjusted individually and take into account broad and personal considerations that are unique to the employee."

As a company that accompanies publicly traded companies and leads top clients in Israel and around the world, how do you help this model to succeed?
"I attribute the increase in productivity mainly to the way employees are evaluated and the importance that comes from measuring success based on outputs and inputs, and less to where an employee is at a given time. This is in addition to examining client satisfaction and quantitative and qualitative assessment of professional products. To enable a balance that does not in any way detract from the success indicators, we also create a supportive environment and a real community that has a mutual guarantee, even in particularly challenging times. An example of this is the rounds of fighting that affect us, as a company whose primary location is in the city of Ashkelon. During these times, including the coronavirus pandemic, work and service were not affected because the team did everything possible to meet the tasks – it begins and ends with the relationships we were able to establish together.'

Why do you think the balance model is still relatively rare in the labor market?
"I believe this is a process that will gain momentum among other companies that will adopt our model. The coronavirus pandemic offered us a glimpse into the world we are living in since the company’s founding. It also showed that if you want – you can strike the necessary and important balance between family and community with a high professional level along with meeting goals. What this means is that, on the one hand, they will implement employee-oriented and hybrid hiring processes, and on the other hand, they will adopt tools for accurate and reliable measurement of outputs. In this way, both employees and the company owners will profit."

A majority of women

About 50 employees are employed at Total Finance, of whom over 90% are women. Sherf-Blau, CPA, who founded the company, accompanies various companies in IPO processes on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and Nasdaq and serves as CFO at Userway Ltd., a publicly traded company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Her academic background includes accounting (M.A.) and honors in business administration with specialization in accounting (B.A.). Her professional experience includes working at the CPA firm of PwC Israel, and more than 15 years in providing accounting and financial services for a variety of private, public and governmental entities in various fields.

The company's main offices are located in Ashkelon – Sherf-Blau’s hometown – with another branch in Ra'anana. In December 2022, a subsidiary, Total Finance Inc., was launched, which provides financial services to American companies. And evident in all of the company’s range of activities is its vision that places the welfare of its employees at the center.

Total Finance
Phone: 08-852-6010
Go to the website >>

In collaboration with Total Finance