How to Improve Motivation Within Your Finance Workforce

Research shows finance is one of the most unmotivated sectors of employment. Nearly half of all workers admit they feel “unmotivated” in their roles and more than half claim they are contemplating leaving their current positions within a year. Focusing on your staff’s needs is crucial to increasing their engagement in the workplace. From hiring new candidates to retaining your current employees, open and honest communication can improve motivation in your finance workforce. 

From getting to know your employees and their priorities to making finance seem a bit more human, we’ve got some ideas to help you retain your workforce. And, for those companies looking for new talent, we have the perfect solution—using our award-winning interviewing software to hire for cultural fits.

1. Get to know your employees — and their idea of great benefits

Now, more than ever, employees are looking for more than a steady paycheck. They’re seeking engaging work, with new challenges and the potential to advance their professional and social status while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Money is one thing, but throw in a wellness or education stipend and half days on Fridays and your new employee will be singing your praises.

In addition to revising the benefits package, top-level executives are well-served to organize team-building activities, conference field trips, or annual special events. These make employees feel valued and part of an indispensable community within their company.

2. Let your personality show: put a face to the financial corporation

Enthusiasm in the workplace starts with management and executives. Their spirit infiltrates the entire organization, and the workplace culture they promote can make the organization a more interesting place to work. An upbeat video message from the CEO is much more personal and friendly than a company newsletter blast via email. 

Team leaders can use a video platform to recognize top performers, share successes, and encourage competition within the ranks. Conversely, you can open nominations up to the whole company. For example, we use interview on demand, to nominate team members for awards within the company. With interviewstream’s on demand platform, these videos can be recorded at leisure, or streamed live, in real-time, using interview connect. 

3. Offer a flexible financial career path

Doing monotonous work can cause employee burnout. While some workers value predictability, many young professionals hope that the job they take today will be a stepping stone toward more challenging assignments, greater prestige, and higher pay tomorrow. Encourage employees to apply to lateral or advanced positions and give them preference over outside candidates who have not yet paid their dues.  

During the pandemic, many companies put a halt on promotions (and raises), but now is a good time to reward employees that have stuck it out with you. One of the reasons for the turnover tsunami is the lack of upward mobility — so show your best employees they’re important with a title change.

4. Emphasize work/life balance within the finance industry

Most people work to live, not live to work — encourage your employees to set boundaries (ex: signing off before 9pm or letting them escape early occasionally). Keep a pulse on expectations, workload, and satisfaction with regular engagement surveys. These could be done once or twice a year to help executives identify and address potential problems before they escalate. 

Survey questions can explore whether workers: 

• Feel their current workload is sufficient. 
• Have the flexibility they need to take care of business at home.
• Receive valuable feedback on their performance. 
• Are adequately supported by management.
• Perceive ample career opportunities.

5. Pay special attention to the cultural fit of your finance workers

Hiring isn’t just about finding candidates with hard skills. It’s about finding people who “fit in” – who share your company’s values, believe in your mission, and click with the rest of the team. Use a tool like interview on demand, which gives candidates the opportunity to present themselves beyond their resume, to assess prospective employees for the proper cultural fit. Assess whether the candidate has experience succeeding in a virtual environment or an office, whether they prefer hierarchy or a flat structure, and if they tend to collaborate within a vertical or across teams. 

Ask questions like: 

• What company values do you admire and what is your ideal workplace? 
• How would you describe our culture, based on what you’ve seen? 
• What best practices would you bring with you from a former employer? 
• Tell us about a time where you worked with an organization that was not a strong cultural fit. 

Equally important as the questions you ask are the questions that your candidate asks you — look out for a candidate that has researched your company and is familiar with cultural values, projects, and news-worthy items.

Using interviewstream to find motivated finance employees

We know that not all amazing employees will stay with your company forever, so when it’s time to fill the gap they’ve left, we’re here to help. Our video interviewing and scheduling solutions can save you time while simplifying your recruitment process — making it easier to find your next star employee. 

Flexibility has fast become an important value for employees, so why not begin your relationship by allowing candidates to complete interviews on their own time? We’d love to show you how you can transform your hiring process and show candidates from day 1 that you’re on their side.

About The Author

Drew Whitehurst is the Director of Marketing, RevOps, and Product Strategy at interviewstream. He's been with the company since 2014 working in client services and marketing. He is an analytical thinker, coffee enthusiast, and hobbyist at heart.