The notion that people are a company's strongest asset is not just a valid point. In the best companies, it's rooted in the organizational culture. CFOs know every aspect of corporate finance begins with the people involved.
In a tight labor market, new ideas around leadership, recruiting, hiring, and budgeting all circulated in this year's conversations about talent and human capital. Below are the top stories CFO published on those topics in 2022.
1. The War for Talent: 6 Ways Small Companies Can Compete With Big Businesses
Contributor Sandra Beckwith’s story on the competition for talent identified what smaller companies need to succeed in the talent wars. The story details the little things in recruitment and retention that can have big payoffs — understanding what employees want, being presentable and admirable as an organization, changing job posting strategies, embracing flexible work environments, and showing employees appreciation.
2. The Growing Accountant Shortage: How CFOs Can Attract Talent
Contributor Russ Banham’s piece on how CFOs can solve the accounting shortage dives deep into advice for overhauling the image of the accountant and attracting more young people. With labor market issues being a widely forecasted issue for many companies going into 2023, strategies around how to overcome shortages in some of the most vital financial positions are extremely valuable.
3. How CFOs Can Win the Struggle for Talent
A joint piece by Tim Glowa and Sharon Whittle highlights how CFOs can use firsthand information to pinpoint employee benefits that are going unused. With deep knowledge of the financials, the CFO can provide extremely valuable input on the employee benefits package — helping to enhance existing benefits offerings but also potentially saving the organization money in unused benefits.
4. Training and Development: The Key to Attracting and Retaining Talent
In a story that highlights a major necessity for an organization looking to compete in the talent space, contributor Sandra Beckwith’s work explores how important it is for executives to understand the value of employee training and development. By allocating funds toward educational, philanthropic, or professional development learning opportunities, CFOs can directly boost a company's ability to preserve top talent.
5. 1 out of 2 CFOs, CEOs to Cut Workforce, Talent Development Last
Managing director and head of content Andy Burt’s weekly stat from July on executives preserving talent development initiatives provided a great backing to the notion that an organization’s people are its greatest asset. CFOs indicated that M&A and sustainability projects would fall victim to cost-cutting before talent development, according to Burt’s research sourced from Gartner.
