The war for finance talent will continue while 11% of positions in finance and controlling are vacant, said management consultancy Horváth recently when releasing the results of a recent survey.
According to the firm, 85% of respondents think that the war for finance talent represents the greatest medium-term business risk for CFOs — a bigger risk than inflation and supply shortage bottlenecks.
The survey — completed last December — collected responses from 50 CFOs from a variety of industries and countries while each of those their companies employ more than 1,000 workers and has 250 million euros in annual sales.
"CFOs expect to get business risks back under control by 2025 while the shortage of skilled workers will hit full force in the next few years," said Achim Wenning, study director and partner at Horváth.
In addition, 90% of respondents indicated that personnel costs will rise significantly by 2025, regardless of inflation while the same percentage of respondents assume that staff shortages will make it difficult to meet new regulatory obligations and implement innovations, according to survey results.
Survey highlights
The survey finds the following four major trends as well, Horváth said.
Controlling and IT professionals in greater demand than ever before
Functions in the areas field of controlling (73%) and IT/data management (68%) are particularly affected.
In other areas of finance, such as accounting, the need for staff shortages are is lower (32%).
High salaries alone are not enough in fighting the war for finance talent
High salaries alone will not be enough in this competitive environment competition. However, only about half of the companies surveyed want to counter the personnel problem with organisational restructuring or an expansion of flexible working models.
But this is where organisations can gain en edge in combating the challenge, said Horváth.
Agile, modern finance organisations that manage to keep workloads at acceptable levels through interdisciplinary collaboration and automated, digital processes are much more attractive to professionals.
As many as 93% of CFOs say that recruiting difficulties are causing their existing team to work overtime and stretching their human resources thin.
Another 70 percent see a medium-to-high risk of sickness rates increasing due to workloads.
In addition, if new hires are paid above-average salaries, the overall salary structure becomes skewed, which can lead to dissatisfaction among existing employees.
Majority relies on digital solutions to increase efficiency
Among the respondents, 70% indicated that they increasingly implement and use digital solutions, for instance, to automate processes and simplify collaboration.
Potential for further training is underestimated
Only under a third of finance departments see internal training as a suitable way of dealing with talent shortage, according to survey results.
The most urgently needed skills, according to respondents include those related to communication, solution orientation and stakeholder management in order to master transformations.
