Annual survey from Chartered Accountants Leinster Society, in partnership with Barden, shows changing work practices & values focused on health and work-life balance following Covid-19

A new survey published today places the average salary package (including base salary, car or car allowance, plus bonus) for a Chartered Accountant in Leinster at €112,033, consistent with recent years. But in contrast to previous surveys, a strong shift in work practices, values and priorities has emerged for many following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The survey of more than 1,000 Chartered Accountants, published today by Chartered Accountants Ireland Leinster Society in partnership with Barden, Ireland’s leading accounting and tax recruitment firm, and in association with Coyne Research, provides the most up-to-date guide to Chartered Accountant salaries and employment prospects in the Leinster region.

Strong Earning Potential

The survey, carried out between 22 July and 9 August, highlights strong earning potential for those entering the profession, with newly qualified (2020 and 2021) Chartered Accountants receiving an average salary package of €57,164. The majority of members surveyed said they hold full-time permanent roles (96%), up slightly on 2020 (95%). Over 4 in 5 (82%) said their total remuneration has increased within the past three years, with 1 in 3 claiming it has increased by more than 25%. The survey also showed a significant increase in those anticipating a bonus payment in 2021 (67%) versus 2020 (52%), with €20,000 the average bonus expected to be paid this year. At 85%, the majority also have a pension, unchanged from 2020, with employers contributing on average 9% of their salary.

Healthy Work-Life Balance

The survey also examined the impact of Covid-19 on working life, and the growing focus among Chartered Accountants on health and work-life balance, with employers increasingly offering ways to facilitate this for staff:

• 88% of respondents have the ability to work from home, versus 50% pre-pandemic (up +38%);
• 48% now enjoy flexible working arrangements such as flexitime, time in lieu and job-sharing, versus 39% pre-pandemic (up +9%);
• 8 in 10 respondents (81%) said they value flexible working arrangements and would sacrifice 5%-10% of their remuneration for this, versus 74% pre-pandemic (up +7%);
• More than 3 in 4 (76%) rated their employer as “good” or “very good” in adapting to working from home arrangements;
• Only 8% of those surveyed said their employer offered no specific measures to facilitate improved work-life balance, versus 25% pre-pandemic (a drop of -17%);
• After basic salary, the most valued benefits were a pension scheme (52%) followed by health insurance (17%). 55% claimed to receive health insurance as part of a salary package, versus 48% in 2018 (up +7%).

New Ways of Working

As with many professions, the pandemic has changed how Chartered Accountants work with regards to place of work, the role of technology, and hours worked. Key findings include:

• 8 in 10 respondents considered location flexibility (a mix of home and office/client location, work from anywhere) the most valuable aspect of flexible/hybrid working for the future;
• More than 8 in 10 believed personal productivity tools such as MS Teams, Zoom, etc. have positively impacted their career;
• However, almost half (48%) of Chartered Accountants also claim they are working more hours at home than they were when working in the office;
• 60% know what their future working arrangements will entail, while one-third (32%) do not yet know – but among this group, 7 in 10 would like to collaborate with their employer on a plan;
• Just 6% would be happy to return to a full-time, Monday to Friday office routine in the future.

Future Outlook  

At this stage in the pandemic, respondents are more positive about the future, both in terms of their own personal career progression and the outlook for the profession in general.  Key findings include:

• More than two-thirds (67%) believe the employment market is buoyant, a significant change from 25% in 2020. Only 9% believe the market is contracting in 2021 compared to 36% in 2020.
• Over half (51%) said they have been promoted in the last three years, with one-fifth of members moving job in the last 12 months. This remains on par with recent years.
• 90% of Leinster Society members are not concerned about job security, a significant improvement on last year when Ireland was in the early stages of the pandemic. At that time, almost one fifth (18%) of those surveyed expressed concern about their job security.
• Just 4% said their salary has reduced as a result of the pandemic, versus 13% in 2020.
• Only 3% were in receipt of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme, a fall of 6% on 2020.

Jilly Harvey, Chairperson of Chartered Accountants Ireland Leinster Society, said:

“While our survey shows that 84% don’t believe the pandemic has changed their work as a Chartered Accountant, it is clear that ways of working have changed, and that the pandemic has been a catalyst for much of this change. Greater work-life balance with flexible arrangements are valued by members in greater numbers than in any previous Leinster Society survey. It is reassuring that employers are providing tangible ways to meet those needs as part of the overall remuneration package on offer to new and established professionals. The survey points to a profession that is adapting well for the post-pandemic world of work, while retaining the many benefits, such as strong starting salaries and flexible entry routes, that make Chartered Accountancy an attractive career path for so many.”

Elaine Brady, Managing Partner at Barden, said:

“This survey gives employer firms, recruiters and anyone considering a career in Chartered Accountancy the big picture on what it means to work as a Chartered Accountant in Leinster today. The findings look far beyond the traditional remuneration packages to ask about the real life work arrangements and non-financial benefits increasingly valued by employees. Over half of those surveyed are satisfied with their work/life balance and the non-monetary aspects of their job. As Ireland emerges further from the pandemic, all the signs point to continued confidence in both the employment market and equally the career progression outlook for Chartered Accountants across Leinster.”

Where Chartered Accountants Work

The survey highlights the wide range of industries and sectors that Chartered Accountants work in. The majority of members surveyed work in Dublin (84%). Of the 19% of members employed in practice, 48% work in a Big 4 practice. 68% of those working in practice are in a Manager or Director role.

The majority of those not working in practice currently work in financial services (25%). Members also work in IT and Telecommunications (13%), Government/Public Sector/Education (10%), Construction (8%), Pharmaceutical (8%), and across a broad range of other sectors including manufacturing, not-for-profit / charities, food industry and more.

Among those not employed in practice, almost four in ten (39%) work for companies that are a subsidiary of a foreign-owned multinational compared to a private Irish company (29%) or the business unit of an Irish plc (11%).

To view a copy of the 2021 Salary Survey results click here.

Source: Chartered Accountants Ireland  

Barden’s Accounting & Tax practice is proud to announce the appointment of Sarah Griffin as Associate with our Operational Finance team in Dublin.

Sarah will work directly with the team to continue to support part qualified accounting, accounts payable, accounts receivable and payroll professionals.

Sarah successfully graduated from the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2017, achieving a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting). She later went on to complete the CIPD Diploma in Human Resource Management with the National College of Ireland.

“’I’m delighted to announce that Sarah Griffin has joined our team here at Barden in Dublin, to work in our Accounting and Tax practice. Sarah started her training in Deloitte, and more recently, has spent 2 years working in finance in a major Irish business. Her background, professionalism and empathy makes her perfectly placed to advise and guide the next generation of early career accountants, and operational finance professionals on the best next steps in their professional careers.” – Elaine Brady | Managing Partner | Barden Dublin

Welcome to Barden Sarah!

In our latest blog for employers and those leading and managing teams, Fionnán O’Sullivan, Managing Partner at Barden’s financial services practice and expert on financial services careers focuses on interviews and the 3 questions you should ALWAYS ask when hiring.

Interviewing…An Art In Itself 

Interviewing for performance is an art – that even the most experienced of us haven’t perfected. We’ve all been there, in the aftermath of a new hire’s honeymoon period where things start to unravel – it’s a sinking feeling, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll always cast your mind back to your hiring process:

But they performed well at interview, didn’t they? They had the skills we assessed, didn’t they?

The truth is, most organisations, and interviewers, don’t go deep enough at interview. And it’s understandable– you’ve got a tough role to fill, you meet someone who meets most of the criteria and that you feel, at face value, would be a fit, so you hire them to fix a short-term problem. Let’s face it, it’s difficult to find people with the right ‘skills’, and the temptation is, when you find one, you want to grab them with both hands and ask when they can start.

As the interviewer, it is imperative that you develop an interview framework that will really help you find out what you need to know. It’s about digging deeper; way beyond skills, academics and job titles to really establish how, in simple terms, this person will perform in conducting the work you need them to do.

I’ve listed below what I see as a number of ‘eye-opener’ questions. Ones that usually catch people off guard, or at least, if not off guard, will require them to dig deep and give you something less scripted than a lot of the typical interview questions.

What would your boss, or your peers, say about you if I sat them down for a coffee?

There’s actually two aspects to this question. Number one, you’re requiring them to give an authentic response, as by the way the question is asked, there is a possibility you might do exactly this when taking references – so they can’t ‘rose-tint’ an answer. Secondly, it’s a good way of testing self-awareness. People who falter with this question typically haven’t given much thought to how other people see them – which, if you are interviewing for a leader, or potential leader, should be a red flag. If they answer with clarity and conviction – there’s probably a good chance they have high levels of self-awareness, and in turn, high EQ.

Tell me about a time you have failed…

There is a stock standard response to this which goes something along the lines of talking about a situation that you nearly failed at, and then ‘recovering’ it at the last minute. Watch out for these answers. If you’re looking for a leader, or potential leader, you want someone who can self-analyse and learn and that means talking openly about failure in order to develop. As we all know, failure is the quickest route to learn the best lesson! Equally, if someone has never actually ‘failed’, this could be a potential issue. It’s all well and good being a high achiever, but high achievers are often the least resilient when it comes to failure. If you have someone who is used to the good times, you might have an issue on your hands when things aren’t going so good.

What would you do in this situation?

Obviously, you need to give them a situation, but this is probably the most effective way to actually test someone’s thought process without a more detailed psychometric testing or case study exercise. Walk them through a tricky business issue and ask them to talk you through what they would do to fix or address it, in stages. You’ll be able to see the cogs ticking, in real time, and unless they have encountered this exact situation, a scripted answer won’t help them. Once you’ve given them the opportunity to put their thinking forward, ask them to reflect on why they decided on that course of action.

Don’t be tempted to feel that you are labouring a point – gaining an insight into past behavioural patterns and future thought processes will provide you with a deep understanding of an individual’s performance capability.

Above all, keep it focused. Don’t be tempted to use competency based interview templates that aren’t fit for your recruiting purpose. Taking ownership for your interviewing strategy will reap rewards in future years, not to mention time in the short run.

Target and test thoroughly – it’s your call!

Building Your Team?

Fionnán O’Sullivan is Managing Partner at Barden’s financial services practice. He is an expert on financial services careers including asset management, banking, insurance and wealth management.

Reach out to Fionnán to see how he, and his team, can help you build and retain truly world class financial services teams.

We’re delighted to announce that Aoibhín Byrne has been promoted to Senior Associate with Barden. Aoibhín is part of our team in Dublin, and is an expert in recently qualified tax, practice and operational finance careers.

A core part of Aoibhín’s role is working directly with audit, advisory and tax professionals and helping them to identify and map out their future career path, and secure their ideal roles.

“Aoibhín joined the Barden business in 2019 directly from her training contract in tax in KPMG – a move that she was born to make, and we’re certainly glad that she did! Since joining Barden, she has been instrumental in the building out of the Recently Qualified Tax and Practice market, having also been extremely successful advising and guiding early career accountants prior to this.  She’s spent 100’s of hours advising and guiding the next generation of  accounting and tax professionals in Dublin and helping them flourish.” – Elaine Brady | Managing Partner | Barden Dublin

“Aoibhín is a trustworthy, professional and loyal person, who’s caring nature, coupled with her commercial acumen, means she has made a huge impact on the market since joining Barden. She is exceptionally hard working, committed and passionately cares about what she does, and who she deals with. Her promotion to Senior Associate is extremely well earned. Onwards and upwards Aoibhín”. – Ed Heffernan | Managing Partner | Barden

“Making the move to Barden was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I am so lucky to work with brilliant people in Barden every day. I have also been fortunate to work with great clients and candidates across the tax, practice and operational finance sectors and it was great that I could bring my technical accounting and tax knowledge to the team. Over the last year it has been great to see such resilience across the team which has made us stronger than ever heading into a busy 2021. I’m really excited to see where the future takes us!“ – Aoibhín Byrne| Senior Associate | Barden

Well done Aoibhín from all your Barden buddies.

A little bit about Aoibhín…

Aoibhín is a UCC graduate and holds a Bachelor of Commerce with French. In 2016 she joined KPMG Ireland where she trained and worked as a Tax Associate and was involved in the provision of corporate tax and advisory services to MNC’s across a variety of industries. Aoibhín joined the Barden team in 2019 and is an expert in recently qualified tax, practice an operational finance careers.

Great to feature in the July 2021 edition of Business Plus where Jonathan Olden, Managing Partner, Barden Cork gave an update on what Barden has been up to and an overview of the market during the past 12 months…

Recruitment agency Barden used the Covid pandemic as an opportunity to rebrand and to reimagine what its future in Cork might hold. The company, which has practices in Cork and Dublin, also expanded its team.

“We welcomed Killian O’Leary as partner in our IT recruitment practice, while Fionnán O’Sullivan took on the mantle of managing partner for our financial services recruitment practice nationally,” says Jonathan Olden, managing partner. “Over the coming year, we will continue to build out our Cork practice so as to enhance our ability to serve our key clients right across their organisation.”

Cork’s plethora of life sciences and tech companies helped the region to weather the Covid storm well, according to Olden. “They enjoyed a certain degree of insulation from the commercial impacts of the pandemic. The majority of companies adapted quickly to virtual hiring and on-boarding. While there was a significant drop in activity in Q2 2020, the market recovered quickly and H1 2021 has been extremely busy.

“Accounting, fund services, legal and IT professionals have all been in strong demand over the past 12 months. Heading into H2 2021, demand for talent is far outstripping supply. This is resulting in increased competition for candidates and salary inflation.”

Olden says that the main growth driver for Barden over the last year has been the firm’s gradual shift away from contingent-based recruitment towards primarily working on exclusive (sole agency) assignments with clients, while also acting as exclusive agents for candidates locally, and for those looking to return home to Cork from Dublin and overseas. “This subtle but fundamental shift in recruitment methodologies has enabled us to deliver higher service levels and outcomes for all our stakeholders.”

Olden adds: “Flexibility, extrinsic and intrinsic reward, and ‘how it feels’ to work with a particular business are all high on the agenda for candidates.

“The companies that can rise to the challenge of providing for all of these will be the ones that attract and retain the best people. For those who cannot, the next 18 months will prove very challenging indeed.”

Source: Business Plus July 2021

Barden are delighted to announce that Bernardo Pina has joined the team as Partner with our Legal practice.

Bernardo is an expert in recruitment within the legal, company secretarial and data protection markets. He partners with and supports a variety of companies and clients across all industries, both in the private and public sector, with a particular focus on in-house legal roles.

Bernardo is a qualified lawyer, having qualified in Portugal through a top tier law firm in the country. Before joining the world of recruitment he practiced in-house for 4 years with IBM and Parexel, two of the leading  multinational companies within the technology and healthcare sectors.

“I’m personally delighted to welcome Bernardo to our team here in Barden. As a Partner-led recruitment firm, it’s important for us that our Partners exemplify the ethics, work ethic and professionalism that we stand for, and Bernardo is an absolute natural fit in that regard – his approach, knowledge, and ability to advise the legal community is second to none in the Irish market.” – Elaine Brady | Managing Partner | Barden Dublin

In his new role Bernardo will work directly with Kiara Daly, Managing Partner with Barden’s legal practice, in growing the business and will take on key strategic appointments for Barden’s clients across all sectors.

“We are delighted to announce that Bernardo Pina has chosen to partner with Barden, and Kiara Daly, to continue bringing something different to the legal recruitment space. Bernardo leads with advice first and is a natural fit for the service we provide at Barden. I look forward to working with Kiara and Bernardo with excitement and I am really thrilled to have someone of Bernardo’s calibre on our team.” – Jonathan Olden | Managing Partner | Barden Cork

Bernardo’s appointment represents Barden’s commitment to providing our clients and candidates with the best experience when it comes to recruitment. His experience and expertise further strengthens our commitment to change the way people think about recruitment.

“I am beyond excited and proud to be joining Barden as a Partner in the Legal recruitment practice. My goal back when I traded my career as a lawyer for one in recruitment was always to have a more collaborative interaction with other legal professionals, helping them achieve their career aspirations along the way. I still deeply believe that commercial success comes as a natural consequence of doing right by those we come in contact with. In Barden I found a home that shares the same philosophy and approach to recruitment. Barden is already a strong force in the Legal recruitment market in Ireland and I hope to contribute to strengthen and expand it further.” – Bernardo Pina | Partner | Legal | Barden

Welcome to the team Bernardo!

In a recent edition of Business Plus Jonathan Olden, Managing Partner, Barden Cork wrote about how a flexible hybrid working approach that empowers your employees is the best post-pandemic strategy.

Consider and elastic band. In its steady state it assumes a generally recognisable form. Sure, there is some flexibility in its shape, but most elastic bands look very similar. Let’s imagine this as the pre-pandemic normal form of work, which for most was 9am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, in the office.

Put an elastic band under unnatural stress and it will extend, taking on a very unnatural but temporary state, a state that can only be maintained while the stress persists. Let’s imagine that as the intra-pandemic, abnormal form of work, which for most entailed fully working from home and never visiting the office.

What happens when an elastic band is held in an unnatural form for a long period and you then remove the source of stress? It collapses back, attempting to, but never quite realising, its original form. Let’s imagine this as the post-pandemic form of work. What form that will take is on the minds of many employers, as it will have a fundamental impact in terms of how they organise teams and create stakeholder value.

First, let’s establish some definitions of work to help capture the variables of this new form:

Remote working: Working from anywhere with rare or only occasional visits to the office. This is what many third-party consultants and IT contractors have been doing for some time.

Work from home: Working from a location that is in proximity to the office (same county/city), with frequent, regular visits to the office.

Now let’s get a couple of things clear…

• Remote working, as defined, is the elastic band in its fully stressed state. It is possible to do it, but it will not be a credible, sustainable way forward for the vast majority of companies. Real value-creating activity is far less likely to be achievable remotely. Where roles are being worked fully remotely there will also need to be a separation of office location and pay levels, and a reconciliation between where the work is being done and salaries in that location, rather than at the office location. For example, paying Dublin salaries to remote employees in Sligo will not wash in the long term.
• Working from home is a far more realistic and sustainable way forward, and it’s what we predict the majority of companies will embrace. Work from home of course has its own variables, such as number of days in/out of office and the provision for home working allowances/facilities. It is variables like these that companies have an opportunity to be competitive for talent and a genuine chance to create a hybrid approach to work that can be a huge barrier to exit for existing talent.

How you organise work from home in your team will have a material impact on the make-up of your team in the long term. We have a number of recommendations around this in Barden, including the following:

1. 2-2-1 approach 2 days in the office, 2 days from home if desired and 1-day flexible depending on the needs of the business. The one flexible day gives options, allowing a company to cater to the needs of the individual and to the needs of the business. That’s where competitive advantage resides.
2. Organise by team rather than by location Flexibility with too many rules begins to feel rigid. If you can, hand over responsibility for organising the 2-2-1 approach to individual teams and allow them to self-organise. There is no point being in the office on your own, so good teams will naturally organise themselves in a way that brings them together rather than keeps them apart.
3. Frequent (perhaps monthly) short (1-2 hours) all-hands meetings for communication of key things, for team activities and for learning and development.

If you can get the mix right for your team, people will begin to organise their life around their work differently. It will empower them to use their time to create the best value for themselves and for you. Of course, flexibility within flexibility needs trust to work, but if you don’t have trust then you probably have bigger problems to address.

Building Your Team?

Jonathan Olden is Managing Partner of Barden Cork. Reach out to Jonathan to see how he, and his team, can help you build and retain truly world class teams.

Barry Schwartz’s “The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less” is one of those seminal reads that seems to be even more relevant today in financial services, than when it was originally published in 2004.

In it, Schwartz critiques the very heart of Western culture – the idea that in a free society, we have more choices than ever, yet we’ve never been less happy or satisfied. From this platform, he uses this concept to explain a number of feelings that are typical of our current world – such as the feeling of being ‘connected’ (via technology) but less able to ‘connect’ with people (or at least experience it in the same way as we did pre-technology) and the rise of depression, anxiety and general feeling of dissatisfaction, which he sees as, in part, a result of increased choice making people more likely to place blame on themselves when something goes wrong, or isn’t as they expected.

At the core of Schwartz’s argument is the idea that with more choice, we are more likely to either be paralysed (by too much choice) or disappointed (as we will always think that we didn’t make the best possible choice). This is an idea, that as recruiters, resonates with us profoundly – in fact, we see it every day when it comes to hiring and building your team. But how? Let’s take a look.

#1 Choice

When you decide to hire, you have a choice. Taking aside any specifics on the ‘supply’ levels of the type of hire you are trying to make in the market (easy to find or hard to find – supply vs. demand), the fact is that people are more ‘available’ these days due to social media and online platforms. Which makes the perception of choice – at least on the surface – much larger when it comes to hiring. This is especially relevant at the senior end of the finance market. If you are hiring for a Head of Finance, you will likely have a high supply of candidates – resulting in, guess what – a massive amount of choice.

#2 Decision

Which, as Schwartz would tell us, can lead to paralysis. Faced with high levels of choice, decisions become a lot more difficult to make, as we become fixated on either the fear of making the wrong decision, or on the lure of making the ‘perfect’ hire. Like Schwartz compares the quest to find the ‘perfect’ pair of jeans, during the process of realising there is so much choice, the risk is that your initial expectations may become heightened to such a degree that only ‘perfect’ becomes the right answer.

Take this supply away – and the choice becomes easy to make. For example, if you’re recruiting for a more junior role, you’ll likely only have 2-3 to choose from. With a senior hire, you could sit there and interview for days.

#3 Timing

This leads me to our last point. Paralysis caused by too much choice doesn’t only lead you to question your decision, it leads you down to road of potentially missing out on what you wanted in the first-place – due to delayed action. Again, this is a situation experienced quite a lot at the senior end of the market, where candidates may lose interest or trust in protracted recruitment processes. Even at salary levels where there are less roles (lower demand), the strongest candidates will always be hired quickly – so if you leave it too long- you may not have the choice you initially thought you might.

What’s the takeaway here? Understand the paradox of choice. It may seem like you have more choice, but be careful to use it sensibly, and don’t let it paralyse you. Be careful not to translate choice into a quest for that all too illusive ‘perfection’. And finally, be cautious of timing – this is the factor that de-rails the benefits of choice – so act with speed and don’t let delay become the cause of your recruitment woes.

Building Your Team?

Fionnán O’Sullivan is Managing Partner at Barden’s Financial Services practice. He is an expert on financial services careers including asset management, banking, insurance and wealth management.

Reach out to Fionnán to see how he, and his team, can help you build and retain truly world class financial services teams.

Process.

We’re all fans of process – but when it comes to the delicate task of on-boarding new talent in the right way, following ‘process’ doesn’t always equate to plain sailing.

Even more so today, with most on-boarding happening virtually, it’s essential to have a robust process in place. These tips apply to all situations…virtually and IRL.

#1 Never assume

We all know everyone is different, so what you might think is acceptable in the ‘way’ you on-board someone will only work for some people. Common mistakes when on-boarding often rest on assumptions – ‘assuming’ someone knows that you’ll reach out a couple of days before to discuss start time, or ‘assuming’ someone knows that you’ll sort that contract out in the next week. Being really clear and almost predicting the questions people may have in what is an exciting – but also uncertain – time is really key to setting the right tone.

#2 Don’t forget the human element

It’s likely that during the interview process you built a good level of rapport with your new hire. Especially when you offered them the job and they accepted. Don’t fall into the trap of treating your new employee now like they’ve been there for years once they’re in the door. New hires need a guiding hand (and a friendly face) and while you may be conscious to ‘get on with the job’, making a point of regular informal check ins in the first couple of months will do wonders for engagement.

#3 Everyone has a different motivator

Doesn’t matter if they’re a ‘millennial’ or ‘baby boomer’, never generalise when it comes to ‘what people want’. Money, recognition, quiet but encouraging pats on the back, more responsibility – there are many many different things that motivate people. Take time to understand what motivates your new employee, and also, what demotivates them – use this to both of your advantages and set the tone right from the beginning. One generalisation that we can make safely is that most people want to know the ‘why’ behind what they do, and certainly want to understand how their role fits into the bigger picture – don’t forget to involve them in this, right from the start.

#4 Never stop on-boarding

Be aware of the honeymoon period, and what comes after. Someone has been on-board for a few months – great. It feels like they’ve been there for ever – great. They seem to be happy and productive – great. Don’t drop the ball. Just because you’ve managed the process well so far, doesn’t mean this will continue once the sheen of the ‘new job’ dulls. Keep your informal interactions in pace, even if less regularly, and ensure you keep them informed and up to date with formal training interventions and opportunities to continue to up-skill.

We all know people aren’t as simple as ticking boxes – so don’t fall into the trap of applying a stock standard on-boarding process to all your new hires. Be cautious to tailor and to make it applicable to the dynamics of the person, observe and flex your approach to suit them. Good luck!

Building Your Team?

Fionnán O’Sullivan is Managing Partner at Barden’s Financial Services practice. He is an expert on financial services careers including asset management, banking, insurance and wealth management.

Reach out to Fionnán to see how he, and his team, can help you build and retain truly world class financial services teams.