Employee retention has mattered more in the last two decades than ever before. Even before COVID-19 changed the way we work and communicate, the trend of digitization in finance already spurred into motion the need to attract and retain talent.
However, what’s drastically changed since the start of the pandemic is that employees require even more digital innovation in their remote and hybrid workplaces than ever before.
The need for digital innovation is especially true for financial team members, many of whom began navigating their jobs from remote settings for the first time in their careers.
Making Room for Higher-Value Work
While finance professionals learn to adapt to the changing virtual workplace, regulations continue to evolve and expand, creating a stronger need for digital transformation to make their jobs more straightforward, accessible, and enjoyable.
Digital developments and transformation can take many forms for finance teams within companies. Strategically implementing automation, for example, frees up finance employees from the mundane, manual tasks that take up too much of their time and creates more room for higher-value, strategic work to drive the company forward.
Retain Employees Amid Digital Transformation
No matter what digital transformation methods companies decide to implement, the first step should be ensuring they help meet and exceed employee expectations.
After all, your digital transformation efforts won’t mean much if you don’t keep your employees happy.
Consider these top innovative employee retention strategies when it comes to digital transformation to impress and retain talent in your finance department:
1. Invest in your employees’ skills.
When figuring out how to improve employee retention, you must focus on upskilling employees.
Finance professionals have big aspirations and ambitions, which means many of them may be looking for opportunities to grow their skills and learn the most they can in the least amount of time.
It is your responsibility as a leader and finance professional to help your employees set and achieve goals within your organization. This means identifying growth opportunities and setting people up for success by providing them with the tools they need to fulfill their roles successfully.
Large companies might be more attractive when compared to small and medium-sized companies or tech startups as they tend to have more resources for employee growth and development, but smaller companies still have key advantages. One benefit of smaller organizations is the accessibility to the company’s CEO.
Finance professionals can learn and develop skills quickly when working closely with the CEO to make business decisions. Giving your finance team more facetime with leadership can both inspire growth in current employees and help attract new talent.
2. Integrate new technology for a hybrid work model.
According to a McKinsey survey, 52% of employees indicated an interest in continuing with a hybrid work model post-pandemic. Automated technologies optimize the hybrid workforce model, enabling employees to access their workspaces from anywhere at any time. McKinsey research also found that hybrid workforces increase productivity and allow more access to talent.
With a new work model, things can easily slip through the cracks. A robust tech stack is the best solution when chasing employees down in the office isn’t an option. Implementing technology that removes workflow bottlenecks is the key to optimizing success for a hybrid workforce.
Teams can coordinate high-value projects, delegate tasks with paper trails, and set appropriate deadlines to hold team members accountable. Digital resources help define goals and tasks, set standards for accountability, and facilitate processes so employees can better meet deadlines.
3. Improve your tech stack and productivity.
Finance digital transformation should be about implementing better technology to improve employee morale and retention. The right technology automates manual and mundane tasks, streamlines workflow complexities, and reduces repetitive work.
To find the right tech tools for your finance team, focus on three key objectives: evaluating processes, researching solutions, and streamlining operations.
First, evaluate processes to uncover potential bottlenecks in your workflows. If you want to expose these bottlenecks, go straight to the source. Create a survey to find out your employees’ pain points and obstacles.
Collecting employee feedback is the quickest way to find the best solution with the minimum amount of trial and error.
Research vendors to determine the right software solutions. After choosing and implementing a solution, it’s time to review metrics like project completion times and employee retention to see if your chosen tech tool is helping in the way you’d hoped. If not, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
The Employee-First Approach
No one is immune to the Great Resignation; however, if you take the proper measures for meaningful finance department transformation, you can do your part to improve your company’s finance employee retention. Try new approaches, communicate with your employees, and be open to new ways of working.
Whatever digital transformation methods you decide to implement, the first step toward success must be understanding your employees’ needs.
Image Credit: Provided by the Author; Thank you!
Chen Amit
Co-founder and CEO of Tipalti
Chen Amit is the co-founder and CEO of Tipalti, a payment automation software that helps businesses manage their entire supplier payments operations.
