The 2015
How do You Retain Your Finance Superstars?
Answers
Ernie I would add the business leader / CFO fostering a "culture" of trust, encouragement, innovation, knowledge sharing, openness.
Keep showing them how the work they do impacts the business. Give them examples where something they did drove positive, value added actions that moved the company forward.
Increase their autonomy, thus showing trust, but that doesn't mean allowing work without
Anyone having complete autonomy in an organization no longer has the best interests of that organization at heart.
Richard Branson said it best....."Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to leave."
If the employees are truly unhappy or it is clearly not a good fit, the fast band-aide approach is best. Let them go and pay a respectable severance once the employee has completed an exit interview. The exit interviews are a great source of uncovering areas of improvement. Is there a library of exit interview data to call from?
By the nature of the question though, you are talking about the "keepers." Have these companies asked the members of their finance team what they would like to see? A simple survey by a respected 3rd party could uncover what is important to them and therefore lay the framework for engagement and long term retention. Give them ideas the company can live with going forward. The employees in finance rarely get away from their desks. They may not even know what options are possible. Career advancement &
Ask every employee what they want to accomplish or do and help them get there. Along with this, treat every employee the way would like to be treated. Give them clear written objectives and measure against them. When delegating any task, explain how/why it's needed and compensate them fairly.
Great question. The current people entering the job market have completely different expectations than when I went to work. The first issue I can see is the expectation of giving 110%. Workers coming in now will give you what it takes to do the job, but are more focused on quality of life issues. Working overtime is not in their wheelhouse and you will alienate them if you expect them to. (I actually think this is a good development as I think you get better quality work from people who are rested and have a good work/life balance.)
The bottom line however, is finding what makes each person tick. The old days of hiring bodies and giving them the same thing won't work anymore. We truly have to find out what each person wants and desires and try to meet them as much as we can.
By the way, one of the biggest issues facing new graduates is student loan debt. If you can find a way to help them pay that off you will have a happy camper.
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Human Capital