Working 60-70 Hour Weeks Isn’t a Badge of Honor

Working 60-70 Hour Weeks Isn’t a Badge of Honor

If you’re a CFO or senior finance leader, let me ask you this:

When was the last time you ended your week at 40 hours?

For many finance executives, 60–70 hour weeks have become the norm—especially during month-end close, budget season, audits, or major projects. What starts as “just a busy stretch” turns into a cycle of constant overwork, late nights, and mounting stress.

Here’s the truth: CFO burnout isn’t just a personal issue. It’s an organizational risk. And the costs—both hidden and obvious—are higher than most boards and CEOs realize.

The good news? There’s a proven way to lighten the load without sacrificing performance: leveraging strategic staffing solutions that balance your bandwidth, protect your team, and help you focus on what really matters.

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Burnout Is More Than Tiredness — It’s a Business Risk

The finance function is uniquely vulnerable to burnout because of its dual responsibilities: ensuring compliance and driving strategy. When you’re stuck in the weeds of reporting, reconciliations, and endless meetings, you’re left with little energy to drive the strategic insights your organization actually needs.

The warning signs of CFO burnout:

Chronic overwork - You’ve been telling yourself “just one more late night” for months.

Declining focus - Fatigue leads to small errors—and in finance, small errors have big consequences.

Stalled strategy - Instead of spending time on forecasting, M&A, or AI initiatives, you’re buried in day-to-day tasks.

Team turnover - When the CFO is overloaded, so is the entire department. Burnout trickles down fast.

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The Real Cost of Burnout in Finance Leadership

Let’s break down what CFO burnout really costs an organization:

Financial Accuracy at Risk

A tired CFO is more likely to miss anomalies, overlook adjustments, or fail to question assumptions. The wrong number on a board deck or missed journal entry during audit prep can create costly problems.

Delayed Decision-Making

Burned-out leaders default to firefighting instead of forward-thinking. Strategic projects—like ERP implementations or AI initiatives—get pushed off “until things calm down.” Spoiler alert: they rarely do.

Talent Drain

When a CFO works 70-hour weeks, their finance team usually follows. That leads to turnover of mid-level accountants and analysts—the very people you rely on to execute. Replacing them can cost 50–150% of their salary.

Reputation & Stakeholder Confidence

Boards, auditors, and investors expect clarity, precision, and foresight from finance. Burnout jeopardizes all three.

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Why CFOs Struggle to Solve This Alone

Here’s the challenge: even if you know you’re burning out, you can’t just “do less.” The responsibilities don’t go away. Month-end will still come. The budget will still need finishing. The audit will still require attention.

Hiring full-time employees sounds like a solution—until you run into:

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- Headcount freezes

- Budget constraints

- Lengthy hiring cycles

- High risk of bad hires

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That’s why CFOs get stuck in a loop: too much work, not enough help, no relief in sight.

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The Strategic Staffing Solution

This is where a specialized staffing partner like Artemis comes in.

We help CFOs break the burnout cycle by delivering flexible, experienced talent solutions that lighten the load immediately—without waiting months for budget approvals or full-time hires.

Here’s how it works:

Interim Talent for Quick Relief

Need a Senior Accountant to take over reconciliations for the next 3 months? Or an interim Controller to backfill while you search for the right permanent hire? We can deliver vetted candidates in days, not weeks.

Contract-to-Hire for Flexibility

Not sure if the workload justifies a new FTE? Try a contract-to-hire solution that lets you “test drive” talent before making a long-term commitment.

Specialized Expertise on Demand

From audit prep to ERP implementation, our network includes finance professionals who’ve done it all before. They jump in, solve problems, and free you to focus on strategy.

Scalable Support

Whether it’s part-time help for a month or a full project team for a year, staffing models scale to your needs.

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Real Example: CFO Burnout at a SaaS Scale-Up

One SaaS CFO came to us working 75-hour weeks during a Series D fundraise. She was juggling investor decks, managing FP&A, and covering for a recently departed Controller.

Within 5 business days, Artemis provided:

An interim Controller to take over audit prep and monthly close.

A contract FP&A analyst to support scenario modeling for the fundraising deck.

The result? The CFO reclaimed 20 hours a week, reduced her stress, and successfully closed the fundraise—without missing a single deadline.

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Protecting Your Most Critical Asset: You

CFOs are the stewards of financial health. But what many forget is that your own capacity is a financial asset. If you burn out, the organization loses clarity, leadership, and momentum.

Protecting your bandwidth isn’t selfish—it’s strategic risk management.

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The Bottom Line

Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. It builds gradually, and by the time you recognize it, it’s often already affecting your performance, your team, and your organization.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

By leveraging strategic staffing—whether through interim talent, contract-to-hire models, or specialized project consultants—you can offload the day-to-day, buy back time for strategy, and safeguard your health and your company’s success. ‍

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Ready to Beat CFO Burnout?

Artemis specializes in helping finance leaders get out of the burnout trap by building flexible, high-performing teams.

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Contact Artemis today to discuss interim and contract solutions.

Let’s stop burnout before it costs more than your time.

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