Anticipating the Coming Talent War
In recent months, many employees in Europe and the United States have voluntarily left their jobs. All functions and industries are affected. There are several reasons for this. In many cases, employees feel burned out or undervalued. The health crisis and the more systematic use of teleworking have also led to fatigue.
This massive wave of resignations also highlights the reversal of power between companies and employees. According to one study, 69% of companies are facing a talent shortage. Particularly within the technology sector and in key functions, employees can now resign without fear of long-term unemployment. If their employer doesn't offer the desired level of flexibility or work/life balance, they'll find another that does.
This is the case for highly skilled finance employees. By 2022, employers are expected to fear sudden departures of their best employees. According to a study, 42% of French finance professionals are considering resigning within the year, and 25% of them already have concrete plans to do so. While this is a very large proportion of finance staff, these figures are even more striking among younger workers. Although they are less experienced, more than half of these employees under the age of 35 may quit. CFOs and business leaders must therefore take this trend into account and optimize the care and support of these young talents to ensure that their needs are met.
Offer more fulfilling and strategic assignments
Gone are the days when finance teams simply processed expense reports and were experts in modeling and data management. Nevertheless, a large proportion of finance professionals do not feel fulfilled in their jobs and would like to have a more strategic role in the company.
In fact, according to a recent Yougov survey, only ⅓ of finance professionals say that most of their daily tasks are fulfilling. One of the main reasons their work doesn't feel fulfilling is a lack of connection to company growth.
It's natural for employees to want to feel that their work is meaningful and contributes to the success of the company. But many finance professionals don't feel like they are contributing to that growth. Only 40% of respondents spend most of their time on tasks that clearly add value to the business.
Employees often develop a sense of belonging within their organization. And for some, feeling detached from the company's growth and success may be a reason to quit. So companies looking to minimize the loss of young financial talent would do well to bring them closer to the overall corporate strategy.
Accelerate digitization to optimize workload
Increasingly, finance teams are facing unmanageable workloads. While many processes have been improved through technology, a majority of professionals surveyed feel their time could be better spent.
In fact, 23% of finance professionals say their workloads are overwhelming and unmanageable. Looking more closely at their most time-consuming tasks, more than two-thirds of respondents in France say they spend up to eight hours a week on manual, low-value-added tasks such as processing invoices, expense reports, reconciling payments, etc.
Digitization is the most effective way for companies to reduce manual work and free up their finance teams' time for more useful tasks. When asked what they would prefer to spend their time on, finance professionals highlight team development, training and networking, and working as a strategic business partner.
More than ever in 2022, the finance function should be seen as a value-creating activity in any healthy company. Finance teams are integral to an organization's success and are too valuable to be taken for granted. Strategic human capital to invest in as a priority in 2022.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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