“One size fits all just doesn’t work anymore”, says Fergus Condon of the growing talent acquisition challenges facing businesses.
As partner and head of Financial Accounting and Advisory Services (FAAS) in Grant Thornton, Condon is addressing these challenges head-on with the launch of Flexible People Solutions, a new service offering designed to fill resourcing shortfalls with experienced professionals, available for short and medium-term needs.
Condon leads a team of professionals who have the ability to slot seamlessly into finance teams and help with their immediate and pressing resourcing needs.
Condon is a past president of ACCA in Ireland and he understands the ebb and flow of the financial year; when and where the pinch points are, and how best to help his clients navigate them. “I have spent my career working in professional services, providing accounting advice across the corporate and financial services sectors. Over the years I have witnessed the war for talent in this arena but it is at a crunch point now and as a service provider we are trying to bridge the gap for our clients. But the demand is both ways – companies need resources and the way employees want to work now has also changed, so it is critical that both parties are catered for.”
The world of work is transforming rapidly and finance leaders are under increasing pressure to deliver digital transformation whilst reducing costs and delivering bottom-line value. Couple that with the growing complexity of regulations and accounting standards, and the ongoing need to tighten controls, the role of the finance leader has become increasingly challenging and complex.
Flexible People Solutions does just what is says. It offers solutions for the needs of companies. Condon says, “Post pandemic, we see that companies need to address resourcing challenges with agility, speed and resilience and they are looking to resource their talent needs in new ways. This is where Flexible People Solutions fits in”.
“Our clients increasingly want their short and medium-term needs met without traditional fixed costs, or the lengthy recruitment timelines and delays involved in permanent hires. They want the subject matter expertise that our finance professionals can provide, so that they can transform their businesses faster than ever before. They need our people to seamlessly integrate into their organisations and deliver from day one.”
The demand from companies is varied and Flexible People Solutions is well placed to address the needs as they arise. The current competitive employment landscape is making it harder than ever to recruit and retain talent. In addition, the volatility and uncertainty at a macroeconomic level means that many business leaders face the challenge of balancing the need for increased capacity or specific subject matter expertise to achieve strategic business objectives, without increasing long-term overheads.
“We have set ourselves up to respond to our customers in an agile way and we have a varied team who can service needs from month-end close, compliance and reporting requirements, process improvement projects and financial planning and analysis roles. We have an expanding network of accomplished professionals to fit the needs of our clients and we are answering a global demand.”
“Reports from our clients following a limited rollout of Flexible People Solutions over the summer months have been overwhelmingly positive,” he says.
“There’s recognition that this new scheme offers a fast and dynamic solution to their project needs. It gives them access to the widest possible talent pool and delivers the best available people when they need them. Flexibility is a key characteristic of the future of work. In spite of advances in technology, particularly in automation, our clients continue to need the right people to help them improve and transform their businesses. Our Flexible People Solutions team will be on hand to meet that need.”
While Flexible People Solutions aims to solve companies’ challenges, it also speaks to the changing ask from senior finance professionals who are seeking greater flexibility in their careers. For Anne Gallagher, director of Talent Management for the FAAS team, Flexible People Solutions enables Grant Thornton to have a broader reach in a competitive talent market, acknowledging that not everyone is looking for the same thing from their employer at all stages in their careers. ‘’We recognise the need to make our service offering more dynamic so that we tap into a wider talent pool”, she says. “For senior finance professionals, short-term projects offer flexibility to pursue other interests when they are not on project, while those at an earlier stage in their career may prefer a traditional full-time role but with a hybrid working arrangement. In Grant Thornton, our people are at the heart of everything we do and we want to ensure our delivery model can offer a range of different ways of working to our employees, while continuing to deliver best-in-class solutions for our clients.”
At a time of change and vulnerability for businesses, it would appear that Flexible People Solutions is adapting to companies’ needs, which will undoubtedly aid Ireland INC.