Partner Article

Future business stars 'will have new skills'

A different set of employee and executive skills will be needed to succeed as the UK starts to move out of recession, according to business advice experts.

Smart deployment of talent and the realignment of compensation structures will be critical to firms’ ability to achieve a sustainable competitive strategy in the different business environment emerging from the turmoil, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).

Ian Lithgow, director, human resource services, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, in Newcastle, said: “While recent focus has been on bankers’ ethics, it is entirely conceivable that - alongside the innovators and the entrepreneurs - the business stars of the future across all employee levels will also need compliance, risk management and relationship management expertise.

“Organisations need to know who those people are within their operations, to ensure that the way they are rewarded is aligned with business needs and to prepare them for the spotlight. Compensation systems and appraisal processes will need to evolve to recognise risk, regulatory and relationship competencies as core skills.

“Companies will have pockets on their skills map that need filling in advance of the upturn as their talent needs evolve. Redeployment and recruitment to stimulate new ideas, kick start motivation in existing staff and fill skills gaps will be necessary – albeit on a possibly small scale.”

In addition to changing views on what success looks like and what behaviours and skills to reward, organisational and workforce models will have to evolve to accommodate the new business climate.

Ian Lithgow said: “To combat the difficulty in rewarding people when there is potentially less cash for bonuses and compensation faces a tighter rein, financial services organisations need to use their resources to optimum effect, while ensuring an appropriate adjustment for risk and a viable balance between short-and long-term performance-related pay.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .