The world around us is constantly changing, and the Office of Finance is no exception. With the recent rise of organizations switching to a digital workforce, geographical boundaries are practically removed giving candidates more employment choices than ever before. This brings significant challenges to the Office of Finance as many were already struggling with attracting talent. Candidates will flock to organizations that value their worth and take the necessary steps to transform outdated practices. Instead of standard recruiting practices, many organizations are leaning into talent acquisition, a competitive approach that rewards innovation. According to Mara Calvello at G2, “talent acquisition is all about embarking on an ongoing strategy to find and hire specialists, leaders, and future executives for your company. It tends to focus on long-term human resource planning and finding appropriate candidates who have specific skill sets and qualities you’re looking for. It can also be used toward anticipating future hiring needs and building relationships with potential candidates.” By utilizing this approach and implementing finance automation tools, organizations can better attract top talent to their F&A team with the right skill set to support their long-term strategic vision.

3 Steps the Office of Finance Can Take to Win the Talent War

Step #1: Invest in Your Current F&A Organization

Attracting talent starts from within. 92% of candidates would consider leaving their current jobs if offered another role for a company with an excellent reputation. Because an organization’s financial performance is a key contributor to its reputation, the reported data must be accurate. Companies that are less desirable in today’s job market are likely exposing themselves to reputational and financial risk by overlooking the vulnerabilities in their manual processes and spreadsheets that contain extensive and complex data. Standardizing and automating manual, error-prone processes in the financial close will alleviate pressure and time-consuming work for the Office of Finance and help attract top candidates who expect a certain level of technology adoption in today’s business environment. Additionally, the best way to protect your organization’s financial integrity and reputation is to invest in a solution that diminishes human errors and reduces risk across the entire financial close process while increasing compliance and confidence in the data.

 

“Be bold. If you don’t lean into investing in your team or systems today, your competitors will and they will take your talent away.” -David Woodall, Director of Product Marketing, Trintech.

Step #2: Adopt a Digital Workplace Strategy

A balanced personal/work life is essential to attracting talent. Whether your organization decides to operate on a hybrid or fully remote schedule, you open the doors for additional candidates looking for a more modern approach to working. The past two years have proven that organizations can successfully execute many roles from home/remote locations while staying on schedule to meet crucial deadlines without sacrificing productivity. These are the top reasons that employees are feeling empowered by a hybrid or remote work environment, according to a recent Gallup poll:

• Minimal to no time spent commuting
• Better for wellbeing
• Increased flexibility to balance other obligations
• Increased productivity
• Fewer distractions

To experience the benefits of working from home or even in a hybrid environment, an organization must leverage technology that supports this change. One solution for the Office of Finance is to lean into financial close automation software to empower their F&A teams to be more efficient and effective. Implementing a  finance close automation solution enhances visibility amongst virtual teams by using dashboards that allow for the status of the financial close to be organized digitally by all members, from miles apart. The data is stored in one central location for easy access, collaboration, and a smoother financial close process.

Step #3: Promote High-Value Tasks

Finance professionals have spent countless hours working on manual accounting processes in the past. These individuals are highly skilled, and their work should reflect this – not bog them down with time-consuming, manual data entry type work. Tedious methods can create a lack of motivation and engagement in your F&A team due to the highly repetitive processes and delay of any strategic growth plan. Top talent is not interested in time-consuming manual processes and wants to be involved in more value-added activities that contribute to the overall development of the business.

Implementing technology and intentionally upskilling your team is crucial to attracting talent and then investing in further developing their data and analytics skillset. Prospective talent will notice the investments organizations make in their teams and want to work for those who are proactive and involved in employee development. Offer challenging, high-level jobs that effectively utilize technology, like a financial close automation solution, and demonstrate an organizational focus on more fulfilling tasks that boost morale and pique the interest of top talent.

The best candidates are off the market within ten days.

The best strategy for attracting talent is through the adoption of technology that leverages automation and digital advancements. The future of finance belongs to organizations eager to innovate outdated processes and create an environment where their members can succeed. Make the bold decision to invest in the technology now to make your organization competitive in the war on talent. Start by looking at how you can automate your financial close and reconciliation processes. This is a time-consuming area for many F&A teams; empower your team to work smarter, not harder. That is what top talent is looking for today.

To discover more ways your organization can attract, retain, and empower top talent, download this eBook.

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Written by: Lauren McCrohan