What does the future hold for the Financial & Professional Services HR market?

As we are now in December, I wanted to reflect on what has been another phenomenally interesting year. With Brexit ever closer, political unrest after another election, ongoing complex regulatory change and terrible events such as ongoing terrorist threats, it has been a lot to take in. Despite what has been a relentless twelve months, organisations and their people have stayed strong and carried on! HR have been key in partnering closely with leadership to respond to market conditions, drive commercial outcomes and facilitate positive change.

From an HR market perspective, pre-Article 50 being activated (Jan – March), HR hiring volumes in London within financial services and professions remained steady, with higher demand incurred for interim HR specialists until the implications on organisations surrounding key political decisions emerged. As we approached June – November, permanent hiring volumes picked up significantly, driven by organisations re-adjusting to seemingly “business as usual” operations.

In terms of notable HR trends, the role of the HR function continues to evolve and grow, for example, we have seen an increase in GDPR & Policy specialists to support General Data Protection Regulation changes and projects such as Gender Pay Gap Reporting, as well as increased Compensation and Regulation specialists to meet the needs of the financial regulatory bodies.

Similarly, Organisation Design and HR Change Specialists are in demand and are commanding rate increases to manage offshoring and re-structuring/OD roll outs.

We are in a candidate driven market at present, whereby employers attempt to attract and retain top talent via a number of new channels, including investing in; gamification, digitalisation and cultural change projects in order to remain competitive.

Furthermore, to address the ongoing importance of creating an inclusive and diverse workforce, we have seen a number of senior hires made in the D&I space, rolling out initiatives such as addressing gender equality amongst other critical priorities. Similarly, we have also seen a positive shift towards flexible working being encouraged to enhance staff retention.

The future…
Overall, the future of HR is seemingly bright! We anticipate 2018 will be another busy and productive year! Yes, our HR professionals will need to continue to adjust and upskill to meet the changing environment they operate in, but it will provide an excellent opportunity for individuals to innovate, challenge and change!

To find out more about our current opportunities in the Financial and Professional Services space, please contact CharlotteMatthew@oakleafpartnership.com

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