Are your best finance employees leaving?

March 7th 2019 | Posted by phil scott

Are your best finance employees leaving? How can you get them to stay?

With ambitious employees now staying at companies for an average of just 4 years, it can be quite a struggle for finance departments to retain good talent.

A common reason for this is that they perceive a lack of career growth in an organisation, so they decide to seek new opportunities with better prospects.

As an FD, CFO or the head of the finance department, ensuring employees do not only stay for a longer period of time, but also stay motivated during their tenure.
Here are some of the strategies you can use to retain your best employees:

1. Employee wellbeing

A recent survey concluded that organisations indulging in wellness programmes not only maintain their employees for a long time, but 89% of the employees report back with improved levels of happiness, while a swooping figure of 68% believe their alignment with company’s mission and goals has increased.
Workers leave when they feel they are being burnt out. A progressive environment is very important for employee’s retention, thus you must focus on maintaining a balance by introducing wellness programmes for your employees.

2. Flexible culture

In today’s modern workplace environment, even the most dedicated employees do not want to stick to a 9 – 5 routine. Instead, they are more inclined towards flexible work timings and options. It is observed that organisations having flexible environment progress rather at a rapid pace than the ones that try to restrict their workers to a ‘time in and time out’ routine.

For example, CFOs and FDs can implement flexibility into their culture by allowing staff members to choose some office timings or by giving them the option to work from home for a certain number of days or hours per week.

The best strategy is to let your employees leave once the work is done. It keeps everyone happy and motivated to finish their work on time and remain productive and satisfied during their jobs.

3. Diversity and employee satisfaction

An article from Mc Kinsey and Company titled “Diversity Matters” stated that companies having gender, racial, and ethnic diversity at all positions and levels experience better financial returns. The article further added that companies with a diverse workforce report better employee satisfaction and make better decisions. Moreover, they are also effective in dealing with clients and building better partnerships, especially on an international level.

It is not just ethnic diversity that should be focused upon. You should also ensure that your employees are not doing similar nature of work for an extended period of time. Some of the strategies Chief Finance Officers and Finance Directors can implement to bring in diversity are:

Introduce volunteer activities or give holidays to your employees to pursue their volunteering activities
Build resource groups to bring in new innovations
Initiate a mentoring program to help resources work on their strengths
Start a support program to help people with different needs

4. Education and a clear career growth path

Help your employees to learn about their career path in the organisation is a great way to motivate them. Young employees, in particular, would produce a better outcome if they know they have a chance at top leadership roles.

In-house training to enhance the skills of the employees is also extremely important as well as introducing education programmes.

Another option is to introduce a timely growth and promotion structure. If your company is making revenue, consider giving certain benefits or bonuses to motivate your workforce.

Changing employee needs

If FDs and CFOs want their best performing finance and accounting resources to stay, it is important that they realise that the needs of today’s employees are changing.

Flexibility, a clear career path, and some education are aspects that should be prioritised. Once you have these important points implemented in your company, you are likely to notice improvements in the retention rates.