Event Recap | The CFOs Role in the War for Talent
On Managing the War for Talent
Ron Domanico, CFO of Brink's, recruits internally, to let his employees know how important they are. We must give them a "sense of worth". Brink's conducts career planning development meetings, as they must be proactive to let the team know their value. “You can throw money at people for a short time, but this is often reactive when people are being poached. Not a great strategy long-term.” Employees are often seeing 30-50% increases to leave, which is hard to compete with.
Ashley Crandall, Americas CFO of Capgemini reports that Capgemini has hired a “Chief Fun Officer” to help with employee retention. “It is all about “Moments that Matter” and how we must give people a reason to stay.” People are essentially our product and we have faced recruiting challenges. We’ve had to increase HR spending and costs to staff the open positions caused by attrition and put capital towards learning and development for the employees that stay. We have also had success with increased softer benefits and meeting employees in the middle before they choose to leave.
Tim Glowa, Principal of Human Capital Services at Grant Thornton believes we must create engaging work environments and establish connections. Whether that be through on-site meetings, whiteboarding, etc., we must get them to come into the office.
Scott Humphrey, CFO of Fox Factory, conducts employee surveys and reviews and discusses feedback.
On the State of Work in America Overview
Per Grant Thornton’s survey, most employees want flexibility in when and where they work.
29% of people are actively looking for a new job.
½ of employees feel their manager is the single most stressful part of their job.
40% of job switchers are still actively looking.
The number one reason potential hires turn down a job is due to the timing of the offer and also company reputation, which is very easy to research on the internet these days.
On Differentiating your Company
Ashley states when she was at GE, some of her employees and peers knew they were paid less than what they could get elsewhere, but everyone was ok with it because the non-monetary aspects kept them at GE.
Racquel Davey, Managing Director in the Workplace Practice Group at Savills, claims people are leaving because of zero transparency in their career growth. Employees are happy when their long-term perspective was being invested in and valued as an employee.
Scott believes creating a value proposition is key. Change the culture. Surround yourself with people that drive this culture.
On Matching Offers to Retain Talent
Capgemini looks at average rotation throughout different levels. For example, an entry-level program moves employees up to the next level after 6 months. While a mid-level employee has a heavier attrition rate. We must assess if they are in the right “grade”, and if we are paying them within that grade. Sometimes if a competitor presents an offer far outside of our range, we must make the decision not to match in certain scenarios.
Fox Factory has an open-door policy. "If we have a conflicted employee that wants to chat about a potential competing offer, we are willing to engage and figure out whether it makes sense to keep them on board."
Per Tim Glowa, “Not All Turnover is Bad”. He then asks the panel if they can identify flight risk employees...
Ron determines who would have the biggest impact if they left. They keep a proactive approach to career development and understand that it costs 20% to keep an employee but potentially costs 30% more for a new hire.
On a lighter note, Brink's started offering free drinks and snacks to improve employee morale and it worked!
Racquel believes employees hired during the pandemic have less to lose as they weren’t able to establish those "face-to-face" connections and loyalty with peers over zoom and remote work environments. Overall, companies need to be intentional about how they treat employees.
Ashley states that everyone is a flight risk. LinkedIn has made the recruiter's job easy so companies must create value in other ways.
Companies are now using technology and analytics, LinkedIn history/resumes, to identify flight risk employees and predict turnover.
On the Remote WorkplacePer Racquel, one-third of people are back in the office full time, one-third are hybrid, and one-third are completely remote. Most are trying to achieve high engagement and high productivity. "We must create spaces within the hybrid work environment that include heads-down focus areas and collaboration spaces. Office layouts truly depend on the type of work being done. Is an open floor plan/neighborhood-driven setting or a private office setting better? Not to mention, remote work makes it hard to establish Meeting Equity (i.e., people feeling like not part of the conversation), and we must use ever-evolving technology to bridge the gap."Q&AGlen Braganza, CFO of Clickatell, asks if the panelists are using proactive pay increases outside of the normal cycle?
Grant Thornton was proactive last summer.
Capgemini has two cycles plus uses analytics - male versus female, and leverages metrics to cautiously enter pay cycle increases.
Brink's has offered a 34% increase in pay to its field employees. Unfortunately, they have employees getting shot at daily. While their salaried workers saw a 3% increase in pay.
Overall, the pay gap is shrinking, people are putting a premium on D&I, and looking to increase woman leadership.
About the Speakers
Ron Domanico is EVP and CFO of Brink’s. Ron is responsible for Business Development & Strategy, Sustainability, Corporate Controller, Financial Planning & Analysis, Internal Audit, Investor Relations, Strategic Sourcing, Tax, Treasury, Brinks Capital, and Real Estate. Prior to joining Brink’s, Ron was Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives & Capital Markets at Recall Holdings Limited. From 2010 to 2014, Ron served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of HD Supply, Inc. Previously, he was Chief Financial Officer at Caraustar Industries, Inc., from 2002 to 2009 and Senior Vice President from 2005 to 2009. Before that, Ron held various international financial leadership positions at AHL Services, Inc., Nabisco, Inc., and Kraft Inc. Ron serves on the Board of Directors of multiple non-profit organizations.
Scott Humphrey joined Fox Factory Holding Corp. (FOX) in June 2020 as Senior Vice-President Finance, and he was promoted to Chief Financial Officer in August 2020. Prior to FOX, he most recently was the interim Chief Financial Officer of Hibbett Sports, Inc. (NASDAQ: HIBB) and he served as Chief Financial Officer of Ciner Resources LP (NYSE: CINR). Mr. Humphrey has over 20 years of experience in finance and operations management and provides the Company with a depth of experience in equity and debt financing, budgeting and forecasting, and execution of mergers and acquisitions. Earlier in his career, he managed all treasury activities at Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. (NYSE: SWM).
Ashley Crandall joined Capgemini in March of 2022. She has 15+ years of leadership experience and a proven track record of exceptional performance in fast-paced & changing industries. Ashley has an extensive record of success in a variety of environments including Leading Public Companies and the United States Army. She is known for driving clarity in uncertain environments, thoughtful leadership, risk mitigation, process simplification, increased productivity, operational performance, and leading by example. Crandall’s accomplishments led to subsequent leadership positions with leading public companies including, the VP of Finance at a payment software company, the North America CFO at a technology services company, and currently, she is the Americas CFO at Capgemini, a global technology consulting firm.
Racquel Davey is Managing Director in the Workplace Practice Group at Savills. She leads regional business development and client services for the workplace practice. A Registered Architect, WELL and LEED Accredited Professional, and Certified Office Ergonomics Evaluator, she brings clients an extensive background in workplace solutions, wellness and sustainability best practices and project management expertise. Racquel focuses on advising clients on space program and how to optimize workplace experiences for employees as well as providing innovative integration of design, systems furniture, and technology with the support of trusted industry partners. Racquel brings clients over a decade of experience in workplace design, strategy, and project management. She joined Savills from Redgate where she served as Senior Project Manager for corporate and institutional clients, including Omega Funds and Dartmouth College Investment Office. Racquel previously held positions at Avison Young as a Workplace Strategist and Project Manager, and at ICON Architecture as a Project Manager and Architect.
Tim Glowa is Grant Thornton’s employee listening and human capital leader. He provides prescriptive insights to help organizations make better business decisions about their most critical asset – their people. A marketing-leader-turned-HR consultant, he has deep experience with a range of analytical employee listening tools that can help organizations better understand, engage with, reward, attract, and retain their employees. He passionately believes that organizations should think of employees in the same way many think of their customers and use the best analytical tools available to understand employee attitudes, needs and preferences and then design cost-effective solutions to address those needs across all stages of the employee life cycle. Tim has successfully conducted an exhaustive number of studies for organizations in the United States, Canada, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, and the U.K., comprising a lengthy roster of Fortune 500 clients.
