Treasury’s Got Talent, But How Can Firms Find More – and Keep it?

As skills shortages become ever apparent, corporates are not only rethinking their treasury recruitment policies and strategies but also stepping up their efforts to hold on to their high-flyers. Here, industry experts consider how organisations can retain their best performers and examine the difficulties presented by this new recruitment landscape.

Attracting top treasury professionals has become increasingly challenging for corporates in recent years, with the rise in demand for home and hybrid working post-Covid and skills shortages exacerbating matters. As the competition for the right people intensifies, many companies are busy adapting their recruitment strategies accordingly and giving more thought as to how best to keep hold of their established top performers and most promising newcomers.  

John Donegan, Treasury Operations Leader, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), says the company has regular debates and conversations to discuss strategies specifically for retaining treasury talent. He believes such a proactive approach is essential in light of the significant recruitment market evolution that has taken place over recent years and which is continuing at pace.

He continues: “Simply looking at the rewards package offered is just not enough. To my mind, there are other factors now that generate more stickiness of top talent and these have much more to do with ensuring meaningful career development opportunities for individuals. That particular aspect of recruitment now needs much greater thought and care on the part of corporates, especially when considering the needs of high-performing individuals.

“More than ever, it is important to discuss with each team member individually their ambitions, talk through with them how that can inform their career development, and how I can help as Treasury Leader. When it comes to the top talent, it’s also critical to fashion roles that meet their particular needs and create the kind of environment needed to nurture their abilities and ambitions. Addressing those kinds of questions in the modern environment is absolutely key.”

Nurture and support

With an annual turnover of $29bn, HPE’s worldwide treasury team is approximately 50 strong. Donegan keeps a keen eye on the career development of team members, their needs, and progress. The top roles are generally at managerial level but, as with most sizeable corporate treasury teams, the structure also comprises individual contributor roles that are highly specialised and also fall into this topmost category.

Donegan says: “For these top roles, we try to create an environment where people are going to be challenged every day because that’s what highly motivated people are looking for. They want to feel they are adding to their skills set and making a difference. They are excited to learn and experience and it is vital this is nurtured and supported. But it has to be handled sensibly – they’re looking for reasonable challenges where they’re receiving the right support so they can achieve what they set out to do and deliver on their goals. We see it is a collaborative process that aims to provide top performers with the opportunity to increase their personal marketability.

“Feedback in both directions is also vital. With highly motivated people that you sit with, listen to, and work with daily, I think it’s important as team leader to understand what their career development desires are so we can work together to achieve those personal goals. This aspect of managing career development is an increasingly important factor in determining how successful a company is at retaining top talent. At HPE, we are trying to create an environment that encourages everyone to deliver their absolute best. Their development paths may become difficult at times, but that is where support and encouragement are key to ensuring they remain on track to develop into more rounded treasury professionals.”

Communicate, collaborate, motivate

Donegan’s emphasis on creating an environment where top treasury talent can thrive is shared by Lisa Dukes, Co-Founder, Dukes & King. Like Donegan, Dukes believes organisations now have to think beyond merely appropriately rewarding treasury teams financially.

 “Top treasurers are very highly motivated and want to, need to, perform and add value. And an environment that supports that is therefore crucial. There is nothing worse than knowing that a valuable idea or potential strategic route will not progress because it is unlikely to get the airtime or understanding. The focus should be to encourage innovation rather than procedural rigidity. Creating a positive innovative culture will attract and retain the talent that strives to add value.”

Dukes adds: “Appropriate financial reward, career development, mentoring, flexible work arrangements, and recognition programmes that acknowledge achievements all go without saying. But also important is helping teams to maintain a healthy work-life balance while recognising there will, inevitably, be periods of disruption with that. That is also crucial for sustaining quality in performance.”

With treasury leaders responsible for setting the tone and priorities for their department, not least when it comes to hiring and career development, much depends on the confidence they themselves inspire among team members. For Dukes, a good treasury team leader needs to be at the top of their game not only for technical expertise but also for garnering the respect of team members and their confidence in the mentoring they receive.

Dukes adds: “They must also have strong, confident leadership qualities. Treasury leaders need to be able to encourage the team to reflexively maximise on individual strengths so that the whole team becomes a high-performing collective. Leaders have to be able to communicate and collaborate effectively to inspire, motivate, and empower fellow team members to achieve their best, lead by example.”

Acceleration of sophistication

Evidence indicating the tighter recruitment market for top treasury and, more generally, finance talent has been mounting over recent years. According to a survey last year by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), nearly 60% of treasury and finance professionals agreed their organisations face a talent shortage within their functions. A significant 70% of 1,400 US-based treasury and finance professionals responding to the AFP survey pointed to the increasingly competitive job market and the heightened quest for work-life balance as key reasons for the shortage.

Drilling down further, the AFP study also highlights the impact of Covid-19, with the report noting a high level of staff attrition in the wake of the pandemic. Employees resigned because their roles no longer met their needs in terms of salary,  benefits, and an adequate work-life balance.

Faced with a competitive treasury recruitment market, corporates are naturally keen to know where they stand. One initiative that has helped Donegan make sense of the upheaval across the market is a benchmarking exercise his department undertook a number of years ago. The exercise enables treasury departments to assess the sophistication of their operations against the corporate average at a given point.

He explains: “This benchmarking exercise provides an indication of where a company is on what we call the corporate treasury evolution curve – picture an upward-sloping curve ranging from little sophistication to very sophisticated, and to cutting edge at the top. Covid has certainly accelerated the leveraging of automation and technology more generally by treasurers, but that was taking place in the years before, too, albeit at a more modest pace.

“I’ve spent a lot of time over the years looking at what different companies do, and I believe one factor that has aggravated shortages of top treasury talent, made it much more difficult to attract, is simply that many corporates have now moved up that treasury evolution curve. They are demanding more sophistication across each role, which ultimately means top talent is in higher demand than it was previously.”

Donegan further explains that the shift up the treasury evolution curve, especially among the larger players, implies they are investing in more sophisticated treasury infrastructure than in previous years. Certainly, there is a concentrated push by many to enhance automation opportunities through the use of RPA and ML tools, he says. With that clear commitment to investing in evolved treasury structures and greater recognition of the crucial importance of treasury functions, organisations are understandably demanding skill sets to match that investment. It is a dynamic that, he believes, is a major factor contributing to the stiffer competition for talent among corporates.

Fragmentation and specialism

Donegan is confident that if he were now in the market for a treasury professional, he could attract a range of candidates with five to 10 years’ experience. The greater difficulties arise when looking to fill highly specialist roles requiring accomplished, proven talent.

He says: “For example, identifying a sophisticated hedging manager, or someone to fit into a bespoke DCM [debt capital market] role who can join HPE and just pick up all of the complexity of operations, would likely be challenging nowadays. Also, the pace at which treasuries are evolving does demand new skill sets, especially in relation to leveraging technology, automation, strategic work, and communications skills. These are all currently challenging aspects of recruitment and adding significantly to the difficulties.”

Echoing Donegan, Dukes also points to a number of developments that have led to the shortage of treasury talent. Increasing global economic complexity has highlighted the lack of relevant experience in the workforce, she says. Meanwhile, rapid technological advances are dramatically changing the operating environment and risks that treasurers have to manage.

Dukes adds: “Without doubt, treasury complexities have intensified considerably in recent years and that is having a significant impact on the recruitment landscape. The all-in-one treasurer is a big ask nowadays, as treasury functions have evolved so much in recent years – very different skills are now needed for different areas of focus.”

In response to this development, Dukes believes the profession is undergoing a period of fragmentation with a rise in demand for specialist expertise for more complex areas. In that respect, she observes, the treasury role is beginning to look a little more like other similar professions, such as accountancy, where there are specialists in areas including auditing, management accounts, and tax.

The case for outsourcing

Complicating matters further is the ongoing trend of corporate treasury evolving into a more strategic role within an organisation. This is demanding a particular breed of treasury professionals who possess a diverse range of skills, including data analytics, risk management, and strategic financial planning. Furthermore, companies may need a more strategically focused treasurer or corporate finance treasurer for only a relatively short time. This could be during a step change in their business cycle, or to launch a large M&A or infrastructure project.

Dukes says: “Such developments perhaps explain why there is an increase in companies seeking to bolster their treasury expertise with help from external treasury, corporate management, and risk management firms that can provide complex strategic treasury support in short bursts where and when it is needed. That can certainly help avoid the difficulties and complications around attracting and retaining the best talent for a long-term cost.”

“The alternative to outsourcing specific treasury expertise is, obviously, for companies to implement strategies that encompass not only competitive compensation packages but also professional development opportunities, flexible work arrangements, and the fostering of a positive workplace culture. These latter elements are all very much in demand now from candidates.”

Dukes sees organisations continuing to face challenges in sourcing specialised and highly valued treasury talent in the permanent recruitment space, at least over the near to medium term. She says: “With that difficult outlook in mind, organisations should focus on developing talent internally, ensuring all the furniture – competitive packages, considered professional development programmes, flexible working and so on – is carefully thought out and in place to maximise chances of retention.” 

“At the same time, I would advise they explore cross-functional training programmes, de-risk key-man exposure and complement existing resources with specialist external expertise. Long-term success means a proactive approach to stay ahead of industry changes. Increasingly, that means paying much more attention to recruitment and retention policies and strategies. Ensuring they are fit for purpose will play an increasingly important role in determining how successfully an organisation adapts and thrives in a fast-changing environment for business.”