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3 HR Challenges All Finance Companies Must Address

Like any company, financial institutions have their fair share of HR challenges. From attracting and retaining top talent to staying compliant, there’s never a dull day working in HR in the finance industry. 

Still, as the world of work continues to change, so does finance HR. From embracing technological advancements to prioritizing cybersecurity, finance companies are doing their best to keep up with the latest and greatest while still setting themselves apart as great employers. 

But that’s often easier said than done. 

Here’s a look at the most common HR challenges facing financial institutions today and how your HR team can overcome them. 


1. Retaining Younger Talent

While many companies struggle to retain top talent, financial companies in particular struggle to hire and retain younger employees. Keeping industry knowledge and maintaining productivity aren’t the only reasons to retain talent—replacing an employee is costly and time-consuming. Studies estimate the average cost of replacing a mid-level employee is 150 percent of that employee’s annual salary—so it’s in your bottom line’s best interest to keep your employees around longer. 

But how can you retain younger talent? Studies find that Millennials prioritize professional growth opportunities above all else when job hunting. Help them achieve this in their current roles by offering a variety of internal initiatives that prioritize growth and let them learn and sharpen their skills. Here’s how some companies are investing in their employees:

Showing your employees you invest in and encourage professional growth can go far in building a meaningful employee experience and increasing employee loyalty and tenure. 

If you’re doing all the above and still having retention issues, consider introducing exit and stay interviews. Stay interviews allow you to hear feedback from current employees about what’s working well and what they’d like to see change at the organization. They’re a great opportunity for you to change things before it’s too late and before an employee is already walking out the door. 

Still, in that case, exit interviews can also be a valuable way to collect feedback as your employees might be willing to be more straightforward about why they’re leaving and what they think your organization could improve. 


2. Company Culture

Because company culture is not tangible or measurable, it’s often tossed aside for other business priorities, but make no mistake—company culture should be prioritized at every financial company. 

Forty size percent of job seekers say company culture is a very important factor when applying to a new job. Employees want to join a company with a strong mission, vision, and values that align with their own, but that’s not all that goes into forming company culture. Work-life balance, transparency, management style, office vibe, team dynamic—all that and more contribute to your company’s work environment and company culture. 

At financial companies in particular, company culture is crucial to business success. Just look at the Wells Fargo 2016 scandal. Unrealistic sales targets, pressure from upper management, and poor culture led the company’s employees to turn to unethical practices like opening fake bank accounts and hitting customers with bogus fees. Ultimately, the company was fined $165 billion as a result—a penalty that easily could have been avoided with better business practices and a company culture that prioritized accountability and putting the customer first. 

Company culture is not only important for attracting talent, it also helps you retain existing talent. To build a culture at your company, be intentional and start at the top. Get buy-in from executives, senior leaders, and managers on your initiatives, as their mindsets and behaviors influence the rest of the organization. 

But in order to change culture, you need to know what’s working and what isn’t. If you aren’t already, start sending out quarterly surveys to measure employee net promoter score (eNPS) and collect anonymous feedback on areas within your organization that need to be improved. This will help you measure employee sentiment and give you the knowledge you need to move your culture in the right direction.


3. Compliance and People Risk Management 

For finance companies and their employees, compliance should always be top of mind. From cybersecurity to workplace safety, there are a lot of industry-specific compliance requirements that could lead to costly fines and penalties. You have to meet certain standards that dictate how your customers are treated, who you trade with, how you keep customer information secure, and more. 

The easiest way to stay up-to-date on federal and state requirements is to invest in a robust compliance solution that gives you access to the resources and services you need to stay compliant. 

Namely’s Comply Advice and Action has a comprehensive content library and powerful resources like checklists, state comparison guides, new law alerts, and more. Plus, you’ll receive access to our expert team of HR advisors who are standing by to answer any of your compliance questions by phone or email. Comply Advice and Action also features a powerful learning management system (LMS) so you can assign and monitor crucial employee compliance trainings on topics like sexual harassment, cybersecurity, business ethics, customer service, and more. 

Interested in learning more about Namely’s Comply Advice and Action? Click here to sign up for a personalized product demo. 




Working in finance HR is no simple feat. From building a robust company culture and attracting and retaining top talent to mitigating people risks, there are a number of challenges that face HR professionals at finance companies. 

The good news is: Namely can help. Find out how Namely has helped finance companies like yours streamline HR to save time and money, allowing you to focus on what really matters—your people. 

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