Your peers are extremely concerned with hiring top talent this year – even more so than top HR pros. That’s according to the 2022 PwC Pulse survey of execs of all titles, including CFOs.
Hiring and retaining talent is top priority for 83% of CFOs, compared to 77% of all execs. And many of them don’t think the talent shortage will be over anytime soon. Less than a quarter think it’s likely that the talent shortage will improve by the end of 2022.
That’s one of the top concerns for CFOs right now, along with cost pressures. Almost 60% of CFOs are looking at re-evaluating their pricing strategies for the rest of the year, considering options such as raising prices to make up for rising input costs.
Other strategies to maintain business health
While reviewing pricing is the top strategy CFOs are using to maintain or increase margin, other tactics they’re looking at this year include:
- Accelerating digital transformation to drive standardization and automation (48%)
- Increasing automation to offset increased labor costs (43%)
- Optimizing supply chain (e.g., exploring new suppliers or materials) (37%)
- Re-evaluating investment decisions to focus on products that improve margins (36%)
- Evaluating a significant enterprise cost-cutting program (30%), and
- Re-evaluating real estate footprints (e.g., downsizing office space in response to hybrid work) (26%).
Improving collaboration between CFOs and the rest of the C-suite is key to achieving these objectives, according to those surveyed. In fact, half of CFOs said that establishing Finance as a business partner across their enterprise was a top priority for this year.
And 48% plan to strengthen their partnerships by prioritizing investments in predictive models that’ll help them get better and faster insights into business data to make decisions that support company growth.
Intelligent automation to streamline processes is also an important factor for nearly 40% of those surveyed. More efficient processes will help Finance give the C-suite visibility into their company’s current financial health – a critical element of working together to improve the bottom line.
How collaboration improves hiring
Better partnerships are also essential to solving CFO’s biggest challenge: hiring woes.
If CFOs can work closely with other members of the top brass, they can figure out what skillsets are needed in various departments to improve the chances of business success. And they can also brainstorm strategies together to recruit and retain the best and brightest in the most cost-effective way possible. This is key to preserving margins and keeping the company’s performance strong.