5 Recruitment Strategies to Support your Governance Needs

Governance functions can be affected or impacted by a wide range of internal and external pressures on an organisation that need to be constantly managed and maintained. Two such external pressures that have been on many organisations’ governance priorities are the challenges posed by Brexit and the pandemic. To face these challenges, organisations need to ensure they have an effective governance function in place, and the best way to achieve that is by recruiting the right team of professionals! Using our combined years of experience in governance recruitment across the UK, EU and Middle East, we have put together the Barclay Simpson guide to innovating your governance recruitment strategies.

How is Brexit impacting governance?

Brexit has posed many issues to effective governance, especially as many UK-based financial services organisations have transferred part or all of their operations to European cities to continue to benefit from the opportunities the EU presents.

How is the pandemic impacting governance?

The pandemic caused a seismic shift in working practices that may never fully return to pre-pandemic status. Remote working or a hybrid model has many benefits to financial organisations, however it can create governance issues too. For example, will adaptations to risk and compliance monitoring be effective enough to account for employees working remotely more often?

 

In our recent report, 5 key trends: How Brexit and the pandemic are shaping European governance recruitment, we explore how these factors have impacted financial services organisations and offer recruitment insights and trends on how companies can tackle this twin-headed issue.

5 effective recruitment strategies and practices for good governance standards

1. Assess your current and future governance needs

Board and senior-level executives are constantly aware of the importance of reacting to the changing needs of governance and risk. Assessing where your current governance risks lie and how they may be impacted or exacerbated by future risks that may arise from Brexit or the pandemic’s aftereffects will allow you to create a working governance model to build towards.

 

This could include tackling a wide range of issues, from aligning processes with international or satellite offices, ensuring international offices comply with local employment laws, to envisioning a way for staff to safely return to the office with a unified strategy, etc.

2. Adopt a top-down approach

Your approach to governance should come from the C-suite and Board level right through to every level of your corporate structure, penetrating all aspects of company culture, ultimately informing everything every employee does on behalf of your organisation. Adopting this attitude will allow your governance recruitment strategy to have a greater long-term impact.

3. Evaluate the ideal structure of your governance function and identify any skills gaps

Many organisations find that they have significant skills gaps when it comes to a more holistic outlook on governance. This can include transferable skills, innovation and leadership qualities that come from looking for talent that has qualities beyond the immediate job description. This can be a challenge when considering budget constraints when hiring, however engaging a skilled recruiter at this stage can help you better navigate the candidate market.

 

Once you have identified any skills, qualities, knowledge or process gaps that may exist, you will have the opportunity to look at how you could fill those positions to most effectively govern the running of your organisation. This can include speeding up systems and processes, ensuring high-level approval is completed in the most efficient way possible, improving company culture and best negotiating the new post-Brexit and post-pandemic world of working.

4. Benchmark current governance resources and structures against competitors’

A recent virtual conference held by the Chartered Governance Institute revealed that governance priorities for many leading organisations now covered the wide-ranging topics of artificial intelligence (AI), audit, the environment, social/corporate responsibility, diversity, psychology, risk, tax and regulation. While your organisation may not need to factor in all of these considerations, it is a good idea to conduct some competitor research and benchmark your current governance function against it.

 

By evaluating what you currently have in place in comparison to your competitors, you will be able to better see where there is room for improvement. This creates the new challenge many are experiencing of finding a middle ground between hiring innovative, out-side-the-box governance resources and talent whilst remaining flexible to mitigate any further economic fluctuation, and continuing to meet the needs of regulators.

5. Be aware of local hiring norms

As many financial services organisations are looking abroad to establish offices or operations within The EU to benefit from being a part of the union’s trading bloc, there is the opportunity to hire local governance talent to help set up or ease a relocation transition.

 

However, this should be undertaken with a thorough understanding of the local hiring norms, not just an awareness of local tax regulations that apply to contract professionals, but also compensation packages and pay structures. This will give you an edge in the market, better position your employer branding and benefit from top-tier governance talent.

How can you improve your governance recruitment?

Engaging a specialist recruitment partner to assist you with your governance recruitment will ensure you have the personnel resources you need in place to meet the potential risks the future may hold. Recruiters can help you speed up your hiring process, better align recruitment strategy with long-term governance needs and goals, ensuring you have a governance function that best serves your business.

 

Barclay Simpson has a dedicated division covering all our specialist areas of recruitment in the European market. Taking a 360-approach to resourcing, we understand the best ways to source appropriate domestic and international candidates, and the logistics of relocating people within Europe and globally, allowing you to focus on your own priorities assured that your recruitment needs are being handled.

 

Get in touch to learn how a working with Barclay Simpson can help you enhance your team in the UK or EU to secure your company’s future:

 

Tel: +49 (0) 172 533 2593

email: info@barclaysimpson.com

Taunusanlage 8, Frankfurt, HE 60329