Attracting and Retaining Top Talent in Shared Services and GBS: Insights and Trends

The talent landscape in shared services has undergone a significant evolution, driven by technological advancements and generational culture shifts. To meet the needs of a more complex landscape, shared services and global business services are looking for new mindsets and skill sets, emphasizing analytical abilities.

This blog is based off a conversation with Tom Bangemann, Managing Director, ABSL DACH and Tom Santacroce, Principal Value Advisor, Basware. View the full webinar here.

In addition to core competencies, key skills sought for shared services recruitment include:

• Problem-solving: Identifying individuals capable of logically addressing challenges
• Stakeholder engagement: Navigating complex environments while collaborating effectively with stakeholders
• Empathy: A sought-after skill which is challenging to teach but increasingly essential in the modern workplace

Attraction and Retention

In the quest to attract talent, salary is important but not always the top priority for younger professionals. Beyond competitive compensation, younger employees are drawn to:

• Purpose-driven work: Attract candidates by clarifying how their roles contribute to a greater societal good. (This will be easier in some industries and more difficult in others).
• Branding: Effective internal and external marketing, particularly social media, can help you market the roles and attract the right candidates.
• ESG/CSR initiatives: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) credentials are of increasing importance to the younger generation of employees entering the workforce.
• Work-life balance: Candidates will be comparing your offering of flexible schedules and remote-working options with other employment options.

How Are You Retaining Your Top Talent?

A survey* looking at the retention of younger, Gen Z employees found that 93% of respondents said they expected their younger recruits to stay a maximum of three years. Global business services are not really designed to cope with this level of turnover, so retention strategies are increasingly important. How can you keep your top talent?

• Understand their motivation: Identifying and understanding the motivations behind a candidate’s decision to choose a role, and potentially change roles, is crucial to retaining them.
• Have clear career paths: Providing a well-defined career path with ample development opportunities will aid retention.
• Leverage modern tools for the modern workplace: Employees don’t want to spend their time frustrated with inefficient tools and technology. Advanced tools which are user-friendly and minimize manual tasks will help you keep your top talent.

"If you have an open organization that sends employees to other parts of the enterprise… often these people who have been in GBS, and move to another function, or to the business side… are the best ambassadors you can have for the GBS model and they help with cooperation. If you have trained hundreds of really good people in GBS, and they then move across the organization, that’s great for GBS in terms of its future outlook. You have to change your mindset now GBS is not just transactional processing. It requires hiring at a greater level…, using that talent to reinvent the shared service center function to deliver greater value back into the business." — Tom Bangemann, Managing Director, ABSL DACH

Emerging Talent Pipeline Issues to Be Aware Of

A potential challenge on the horizon is the evolving career path within shared services.

Traditional progressions in finance, from sub-ledger to general ledger to forecasting and budgeting, may face disruption with the automation and outsourcing of such tasks. This poses the question: Where will organizations find individuals with the necessary skills, as automation becomes more prevalent? Addressing this emerging issue proactively is crucial for sustained success.

"You have to change your mindset now GBS is not just transactional processing. It requires hiring at a greater level…, using that talent to reinvent the shared service center function to deliver greater value back into the business." — Tom Santacroce, Principal Value Advisor, Basware

*State of the Shared Services & Outsourcing Industry Global Market Report 2024

Watch the full webinar here and download a write up of the full conversation.