By BCL Globiz | Workplace Culture | People First
If you work in accounting in the UAE, you already know the drill. Deadlines that do not move. Tax seasons that blur into each other. A profession that rewards precision but rarely pauses to ask: are the people doing this work actually okay?
The numbers on accountant wellbeing are not comfortable reading. Nearly half of all accounting professionals globally cite burnout and poor work-life balance as the reason they leave their firms. And here is the part that should make every employer pause: 36% of those who leave say workplace culture was the real reason but only 10% of employers ever suspect it.
The gap between what firms think they offer and what employees actually experience is where talent quietly walks out the door.
At BCL Globiz, we have spent a lot of time thinking about that gap and actively trying to close it.
We Built a Place Where People Are Not Just Resources
BCL Globiz is an accounting and tax consulting firm based in Dubai. We work with over 1,000 clients across the UAE, handling everything from corporate tax and VAT compliance to transfer pricing and business incorporation. Our team of 300+ professionals is the reason we can do any of that.
And we are very clear-eyed about something many firms are not: if your people are running on empty, your client work suffers. If your culture is all deadlines and no dignity, your best people leave. And in accounting where expertise takes years to build, that is an expensive lesson to learn the hard way.
So we have deliberately built a workplace that takes the human side of this profession seriously. That means flexible support during high-pressure times. It means a culture where people can speak up without fear. It means recognising that our team members have lives, bodies, and needs that exist outside of spreadsheets and compliance calendars.
One of the policies we are most proud of is one we rarely lead with but probably should talk about more: our menstrual leave policy.
Why an Accounting Firm Has a Menstrual Leave Policy
This might not be what you expected to read on an accounting firm’s blog. But stay with us, because the logic is straightforward.
A meaningful portion of our team and of the accounting profession broadly is made up of women. Many of them experience real, physical discomfort during their menstrual cycle. Cramps, migraines, fatigue, and conditions like endometriosis or PCOS do not take a day off just because there is a VAT return due.
For years, the standard approach in most professional firms has been: take a sick day if you must, but do not make it a conversation. The result is that women burn through their sick leave for something entirely predictable, feel uncomfortable disclosing why, and often push through pain just to appear committed.
We decided that was not good enough for our team.
At BCL Globiz, women are entitled to menstrual leave, separate from sick leave, no medical certificate required, no explanation needed. Because we trust our team. And because we believe that a firm that asks its people to deliver accuracy and precision every day owes them, at minimum, the dignity of not having to justify their biology.
This Is Not a Soft Policy: It Is a Smart One
Let us put this in language every accountant understands: this is about managing attrition risk, engagement cost, and long-term productivity.
- Presenteeism: showing up while physically unwell, quietly destroys output quality. In accounting, that means errors, missed details, and rework.
- Replacing a skilled accounting professional costs significantly more than the occasional day of leave. Retention starts with respect.
- Firms that offer inclusive, thoughtful policies attract better talent. In a competitive UAE market for finance professionals, culture is a real differentiator.
- Underuse is almost always the pattern, women rarely take this leave even when they need it, because workplace stigma runs deep. The policy is a signal, not a floodgate.
Progressive firms globally and now, by law, in markets like Karnataka, India are recognising that menstrual health is a workplace issue, not a personal inconvenience to be managed quietly. The UAE’s evolving approach to employee welfare points in the same direction.
What Our Culture Means for You as a Client
When you hire an accounting firm, you are not just buying a service you are trusting a team with your compliance, your numbers, and your deadlines. So here is what BCL Globiz’s internal culture actually means for you:
- You always work with the same dedicated team. They know your business, your history, and your preferences not just your file number. No re-explaining yourself every quarter to a new face.
- Direct access to partners, not layers of bureaucracy. When you have an urgent VAT question or a corporate tax concern, you get a real answer quickly, not a ticket number and a three-day wait.
- A team that is not burned out delivers better work. Accountants under chronic stress make errors. Accountants who feel respected and supported bring focus, care, and accuracy to your books every single month.
- We invest in our people’s growth, which means you benefit from a team that stays current. UAE tax regulations change fast, DIFC rules, Corporate Tax updates, e-invoicing mandates. A team that is developed, not just deployed, keeps you ahead of it.
The menstrual leave policy, the open culture, the focus on wellbeing, none of this is separate from the quality of work you receive. It is the reason for it. A firm that genuinely cares for its people builds a team that genuinely cares for its clients.
That is not a slogan. It is how good accounting actually works.
The Standard We Hold Ourselves To
At the end of the day, choosing an accounting firm is a question of trust. And trust is rarely built on credentials alone, it is built on the small decisions a firm makes when nobody is watching.
Introducing menstrual leave was one of those decisions for us. No mandate required it. No client asked for it. We did it because it was the right thing to do for the people on our team and because we believe that a firm willing to show that level of care for its own people will bring that same care to your business.It is a small policy. But small policies reveal big values.
At BCL Globiz, we are still building, still learning what it means to be a firm that people are genuinely proud to work at and genuinely happy to work with. But we know the direction we are heading in. And we think that counts for something.
If that sounds like the kind of firm you want handling your accounts, we would love to hear from you.
What It Actually Feels Like: A Voice From the Team
Policy language can only say so much. Here is what a member of our team shared, anonymously, when asked what the menstrual leave policy meant to her in practice:
“Before this policy existed, I used to send a message saying I had a headache or wasn’t feeling well. Technically true, but also a small lie I told every month. The first time I just wrote ‘taking my menstrual leave today’ and hit send, I sat there waiting for some kind of reaction. There wasn’t one. Just a ‘feel better, see you tomorrow.’ That sounds like nothing. But after years of hiding it, it felt like everything.”
That is dignity. Not a grand gesture. Just the quiet removal of a burden that should never have existed in the first place.
Final Thought
Accounting is a demanding profession. The UAE market is fast-moving, regulations are evolving, and client expectations are high. None of that is going to change.
What can change is how firms choose to support the people navigating all of that- every day, every month, every tax season.
At BCL Globiz, we believe it starts with something simple: recognizing every team member as a person first someone with a body, a life, and needs that deserve genuine respect, not just accommodation, that is why we offer menstrual leave. And it is why we will keep looking for ways to build a workplace that people do not just work at but genuinely want to be part of.
If that sounds like the kind of firm you want handling your accounts, reach out to our team at BCL Globiz on info@bcl.ae.
