As I said to a group of foreign firms a few weeks ago, all firms, regardless of size, need to keep this information in mind and get better at planning in advance, ensuring their recruiting efforts are providing a steady stream of qualified candidates, and looking for opportunities to move people around within the organization, particularly between the front office and control functions, to develop more well-rounded professionals. This is likely to mean more aggressive, creative and targeted searches and a commitment to ongoing training. As the competitive landscape and regulatory requirements change, firms will need to find the right balance between hiring new talent with specific expertise and training current staff to keep them up to speed and capitalize on institutional knowledge. 3. Continuing to Build Resilience – Stress Testing and Risk Management: No, I am not suggesting that all firms, regardless of size, are going to be required to participate in CCAR. However, I believe that incorporating the motivating principles behind stress testing into your planning – namely thinking about the many ways that tomorrow could be different from today and what that could mean for your business – is at the heart of managing your risk and your business with foresight and prudence. Sound risk management demands a thorough understanding of the organization’s full risk profile today and how it could evolve tomorrow. 1  Employee Tenure in 2014. 2  Talent Report: What Workers Want in 2012.
According to a report from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median tenure of workers ages 25 to 34 is only three years – less than a third of the tenure among people aged 55 to 64 years old. 1 And, according a Future Workplace “Multiple Generations@Work” survey, 91 percent of “millennials” (that is, a person born between 1977 and 1997) expect to stay in a job for less than three years. Job-hopping can speed career advancement. Getting a promotion in the process of changing jobs allows employees to avoid the “dues paying” that can keep workers in a painfully slow rise up the corporate ladder. Job hopping can also lead to greater job fulfillment. A 2012 survey by Net Impact 2 found that 88 percent of all workers considered “positive culture” important or essential to their dream job, and 86 percent said the same for work they found “interesting.” The same survey found that millennials are the least satisfied in their careers. I also recognize that firms are no longer just competing with others in the financial sector for talent. With skills that can be adapted across multiple industries, the talent pool that was once specialized for financial firms is now spread thin. This puts pressure on the firms and gives talented workers the advantage of being selective in their roles. They demand more from hiring managers and sense other opportunities out there if they’re not satisfied.