Though most business leaders will tell you their people are the most important asset to the organization, many will also say managing them can be the most challenging part of a leadership role. Within the finance team and the greater organization, it is important for CFOs and their fellow leaders to stay attuned to labor trends, how younger generations view work, rising costs of living for all employees and finance’s impact on company culture.
In 2025, many companies will change how they work due to things like return-to-office initiatives, involvement in M&A deals and new technology implementation. When forecasting the growth potential of the organization, finance leaders should either delegate, collaborate with human resources or lead the initiative of envisioning what their future workforce looks like.
This goes far beyond office plants and foosball tables; it involves creating sustainable recruitment and hiring practices based on merit, internal opportunities for upskilling, transparent pathways for growth, salary transparency and a chance for employees to provide real value to the company while maintaining work-life balance.
Particularly in accounting and finance, where shortages are rampant, changes to requirements for the CPA, the changing talent needs within the FP&A function and ways technology can supplement these shortages are all important for CFOs to stay aware of. Here are five trends around labor that finance leaders should keep an eye on in 2025.
1. Changes to the CPA requirement to address the accountant shortage
Since early last month, both the AICPA and NASBA have been in the review process of the public comment period to propose changes to the CPA certification. Their change would add a competency pathway, which would require a bachelor’s degree, one relevant year of work experience and a demonstration of competency in seven professional areas and one technical area.
The seven professional areas are ethical behavior, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, self-management, business acumen and a technology mindset — and at least one technical area: audit, tax or business and financial reporting. Both organizations expect to finalize the changes over the next few months. If changes are approved, the competency pathway to CPA certification could be available for future accountants before the end of the year.
2. Return-to-office as a strategic tool
As many companies have pushed their remote employees back into the office in some capacity, many have said this is a way for companies to trim excess payroll accrued from hires made during the pandemic. Companies like Toyota, AT&T and Dell are just a few of the large companies mandating corporate employees return to the office in some capacity. Most recently, JPMorgan’s company culture-shocking five-day-a-week mandate continues this trend. For companies that wish to address productivity concerns among their remote teams and desire to cut labor costs simultaneously, a return-to-office mandate can be viewed as a remedy for both.
To make sure their return-to-office policies are successful, CFOs can ensure the finance team can properly budget and account for the costs associated with the transition, run an attrition risk analysis on the decision and reevaluate the metrics used to define productivity.
CFOs and their executives who plan on returning to office in some capacity in 2025 should also be sure office spaces can give all employees a proper workspace, a problem many companies have run into, most recently Amazon. Lack of space will not only make the transition look sloppy but will frustrate employees who transition from their preferred work environment to one that could hinder productivity.
As commercial real estate market concerns continue to grow while offices sit empty, mid-size to large companies that employ many people in big cities will play a large part in determining what the next chapter of post-pandemic work looks like. By bringing employees back into the office, they can also help change the grim outlook on the commercial real estate market and revitalize the businesses that cater to office-working employees in cities across America.
3. Navigating multi-generational workforce collaboration with data
Gen Z’s role in shaping the future of labor is a large area of focus across many organizations, but finance leaders would benefit from addressing the unprecedented challenge most companies face — a multigenerational workforce. As baby boomers live longer and push off retirement, four different generations (baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z) are now working in one office. Values, insight, life experience and how success is defined varies across those age groups, which can create challenges during finance’s collaboration efforts.
By creating objective and widely accessible datasets, finance can help create a basis of direction and goals that address this challenge. Companies like DUDEWipes, Milo’s Hamburgers, Chipotle, Vertiv and Liquid Death have already said they plan on doing this in 2025. Making sure company goals are aligned and based on actionable data sets is valuable for any CFO who is looking to have their teams work more with areas like marketing, sales or human resources.
4. Human capital, compensation and DEI
The value of employees, their knowledge and abilities — all the essences of human capital — are subject to change in the emerging world of AI, particularly in next-generation generative AI, artificial general intelligence and artificial superintelligence. How companies define what types of skills their people need, as well as how they source and value talent, is also changing due to the aforementioned CPA requirements and talent shortages.
As the Federal Reserve has reiterated that wages must catch up to inflation for consumers to feel less pressure around pricing, finance teams should prepare for more requests for payroll allocation as it is likely that employees will request larger cost-of-living adjustments. With salary transparency growing in popularity and now being required by law on job ads in some cities and states, the average 4% raise, regardless of salary, may not be enough to retain top talent in their current roles.
Though younger employees are more likely to ask for way beyond industry norms, finance teams should strategically approach how they value talent not only at a structural level but also at an individual level, creating payroll budgets that allow for flexibility to account for varying personal situations, goals and needs in tandem with support for a pathway for growth.
DEI, an area of focus for many human resource departments over the past several years, is being ousted by many organizations due to some discriminatory practices and violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As advised by experts on both sides of the political spectrum, CFOs who are risk-aware should be conscious of how race, gender, sex and other possibly discriminatory factors are being talked about internally, particularly in the hiring process. Suggestions for this have ranged from collaboration with human resources and legal to an audit of company emails of those making hiring decisions.
5. Proactively mapping out pursuit of a CEO role
As the skill set of a CFO in today’s business environment makes many finance leaders excellent candidates for CEO positions, CFOs who have aspirations to one day be CEO should proactively prepare themselves for this role. As the transition becomes popular, the skill set for being qualified to be a CEO may transition to more than just being a good CFO in 2025 and beyond.
Joining CFO leadership groups and networking with those who have made the transition, developing strong understandings of the business function in their collaboration efforts, perfecting their soft skills and being able to demonstrate how they helped align finance with the corporate strategy via their strong operational leadership are all ways finance leaders can set themselves apart from others in their position who are just relying on their ability to be strong financial stewards.
