How a good cost management platform helps you retain talent
Now, almost all businesses have been confronted with the realities of the global skills shortage, with three in four (75%) companies reporting that they cannot get the talent they need – a 16-year high. In the UK, this figure is even higher, with 78% of companies struggling to hire the right people, three percentage points more than the global average.
Recruiting and retaining talent has been a thorn in the side of organizations around the world in recent years, as a year of COVID-19 shutdowns and restrictions prompted many workers to reassess their positions and hand in their notices in search of greener pastures. These pastures included better flexible and telecommuting policies, more generous benefits and a general focus on work-life balance and employee well-being.
As employee priorities have shifted, it has become clear that generating interest from potential candidates is about more than just the brand. In today’s job market, a positive end-to-end experience is no longer an employee “nice to have” or a priority, but a non-negotiable.
While employees have seemingly gained the upper hand, research by Deloitte reveals that CFOs at the UK’s biggest companies are already preparing for a recession and are moving towards more defensive balance sheet strategies, making hiring even more challenging.
Towards the end of last year, ManpowerGroup reported that accounting and finance were among the seven most challenging roles to fill. So, what else can businesses do to get professionals on board and, crucially, retain them?
Introducing automation, digital taxation, transaction visibility and invoice management not only creates huge benefits for businesses, but frees finance and accounting staff to do what they do best. With cost management platforms, companies can make themselves more attractive to finance and account candidates by providing them with new digital tools.
Understand the skills gap and its impact on accounting
The finance and accounting industry is dependent on skilled workers and as such has been hit hard by the need for more available talent. In fact, according to UK Finance, almost a third (30%) of financial services workers say they need more digital and technology skills.
Several factors have contributed to the skills gap across the sector, from macro trends such as digital transformation to demographic changes and changing mindsets towards careers. Unfortunately, the outlook for the next few years still looks bleaker, as many predict the gap will widen further as we see the effects of a declining birth rate and increasing numbers of top executives taking early retirement. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, more than 700,000 over-50s have left the workforce since the pandemic hit, taking their career skills and experience with them.
What further complicates the matter is the increasing digital expectations of customers. New clients are demanding new age tools and techniques, and as client demands shift towards a more digitized accounting service, many firms need help keeping up with their tech-savvy SMB clients. As a result, CFOs are feeling the pressure to close an already widening skills gap among their teams, not only with the tools required to attract new business, but to ensure they have the right people with the right skills to complement those tools and drive them to their full potential.
Returning to hiring and recruiting digitally savvy candidates is a feat yet to be achieved. According to new research from Deloitte, despite CFOs reporting an easing of recruitment difficulties, nearly a third say their businesses were experiencing severe or significant recruitment difficulties or labor shortages. With this in mind, it will be critical to empower existing teams with the tools they need to adapt to a changing workplace.
With the advent of digital payments, the demand for AI-based accounting software has increased. As a result, a plethora of new, user-friendly solutions have entered the market, using new technologies – AI included. These tools are set to change the face of accounting operations through automation, delivering efficiencies, reducing errors and optimizing workflows. According to our research, more than half (57%) of accounting professionals predict that accounting will be automated within the next few years.
Technology can benefit businesses struggling to secure more dynamic skills. But from an employment perspective, it can also help make themselves more attractive to the pool of skilled workers by simply making their work lives more manageable. One such technology is the cost management platform.
The rise of cost management platforms
Spurred by the rapid change in business payments, expense management platforms are becoming increasingly popular for businesses of all shapes and sizes – especially in the context of rising costs and drying market liquidity.
These platforms seek to digitize and automate financial processes (such as receipt tracking and expense reporting) that have traditionally been handled manually by finance teams. There is considerable potential for automating and simplifying consumption processes between a company’s accounting platform and the bank. Essentially, there is a huge opportunity for efficiency gains that can give businesses valuable time to focus on their core business needs. For employees, this means the opportunity to spend time on more meaningful, analytical and value-creating tasks that lead to greater job satisfaction in the long term.
While 32% of finance professionals report that their biggest problem with cost management is data accuracy, there has been significant interest in implementing a solution that works reliably to solve major pain points for finance teams. For example, through a smart platform for cost management, it has always been challenging and more secure to issue company cards to employees. Virtual cards can be created in seconds for any employee who is expected to have a business expense. These cards can be customized for limit, purpose, expiry and provider. A finance team can see at any time who is spending how much and for what purpose – both at individual card level and company level.
This means it’s easier to get cards into the hands of employees without loss of control or visibility, which for many employees is a much-appreciated benefit. According to a survey by Divvy, a cost management solution in the US, 25% more employees agreed with the phrase “my company empowers its staff” after being issued a company card.
In a new era of modern, innovative spend management solutions, all spend processes – from invoicing to refunds to card issuance – can be brought together in one platform. And by blending the right technology with the right talent, companies can ensure they have the best processes in place while ensuring they remain attractive to the skilled pool of workers and retain those they already have.
