You're struggling to retain top talent in Corporate Finance. How can you attract the best candidates?

Many believe (wrongly) that you have to choose between a healthy team and a high performing team. However, the best FP&A talent wants to work somewhere that is driving change or making a difference. Inherently those are more difficult circumstances. When you hire people, give them a clear role with ownership over meaningful outcomes. Ask them to do things that haven’t yet been done. This creates a culture that both retains and attracts top talent.

To effectively foster an innovative culture within your corporate finance team, you can focus on several key strategies: 1. Encourage open communication and idea sharing. 2. Support risk-taking and learning from failure. 3. Recognize and reward creativity and innovation. 4. Provide resources and tools for experimentation. 5. Foster a diverse and inclusive environment. 6. Lead by example and demonstrate a commitment to innovation.

1. Competitive Compensation and Benefits Market-Competitive Salaries: Ensure your compensation packages are aligned with industry standards. Comprehensive Benefits: Offer health insurance, retirement plans, and other benefits such as wellness programs and flexible spending accounts. 2. Career Development Opportunities Training and Certification: Provide opportunities for professional development, such as funding for certifications (e.g., CFA, CPA) and attending industry conferences. Clear Career Pathways: Create transparent career progression plans and provide mentoring to help employees advance within the company. 3. Work-Life Balance Flexible Working Arrangements: Offer options like remote work, flexible hours,

As part of FP&A team, individuals often look to participate in automation and advanced reporting tools which helps in saving time in routine activities, optimizes processes and provides new area to learn and grow.

More than anything else, your top talent wants clarity about their performance and their career path. Make a clear connection between their day-to-day efforts and their career goals. Help them understand exactly what the next level looks like for them and if there is anything standing in their way that’s not controllable (budget or politics).

If a person spends considerable time in an organization, he often looks for job rotation to new areas in finance like FP&A , finance reporting , treasury, pricing roles so that it helps them to grow holistically in finance domain , and prepare them for senior roles in future .

Corporate Finance is one of the most critical and crucial departments of any organisation who manages all the financial transactions and prepares the report of the complete financial year . To retai or attract top talent , following steps can be beneficial - 1. Offer competitive compensation to a person so that he or she can dedicatedly focus on work . 2. Provide them a little bit of flexibility in terms of work life balance like work from home . 3. Provide them certain trainings as per the business requirements which shows him/ her the path of career progression. 4 . Recognised their work to motivate them. 5. Discussed with them to identify any challenges they are facing in achieving their daily targets .

As a Chief Human Resources Officer, I believe finance professionals are highly driven by competitive total compensation packages. However, while monetary rewards like base salary, bonuses, and stock options are critical components, they should be integrated into a more comprehensive strategy. By positioning compensation as just one part of a larger, holistic approach to talent attraction, you're more likely to bring in top-tier finance professionals who align with both the company’s culture and total compensation.

High performing employees want work/life balance and very few know how to make that happen on their own. The reason they are high performers is because of their drive. Companies need to create environments and benefits that support and reinforce a culture of balance. One innovative way to promote work/life balance is the following: -Leaders need to mimic this balanced lifestyle themselves. When your team member asks for PTO be excited for them and talk about how great it is they are getting to get away. Don’t send mixed messages such as stating “What? You are taking off again!” Helping your team find this balance will be contagious and allow your to retain and attract top talent.