The financial sector is losing much more manpower than necessary

Farewell to finance 

The analysis shows that long-term illness is one of the principal reasons why people become permanently detached from the sector and labour market.  

Three years after a long-term period of illness, 42 per cent have left the sector, and nearly one in four of previous employees are not in employment at all. 

“The figures clearly show that when illness strikes, returning to the labour market is difficult. This is obviously not fair, and we need to improve the structures in place for a gradual and more flexible return. Employees who fall ill simply need better opportunities to get back to work,” says Steen Lund Olsen. 

Unemployment follows the same pattern:  

When employees in the sector lose their jobs, only few return. One year after a period of unemployment, only 20 per cent are back in the sector, falling to just 13 per cent after ten years.  

“Unemployment is a naturally occurring event in our professional lives. But too rarely does it translate into a temporary break, and too often into a flat farewell to the sector. It costs both human and professional resources, not only for those personally affected but also for the companies because knowledge, skills and manpower drain away from the financial sector,” says Steen Lund Olsen.

Few part-time and flex job workers 

At the same time, the analysis shows that the sector makes far less use of the opportunities available to organise work differently compared to other industries.  

Only 15 per cent of financial sector employees work part-time, significantly less than in comparable industries and on the private labour market overall. 

And if you are approaching the age of retirement, especially this sector is lagging behind. Here, significantly fewer people work part-time compared to other industries which use gradual transitions specifically to retain employees at work for longer. 

The flex-job scheme is perhaps the most obvious example. With only 4.5 out of 1,000 employees in flex jobs, the sector ranks at the very bottom when it comes to hiring employees in this scheme. 

“You would expect that the sector’s large workplaces, administrative functions and well-developed HR setups would be ideal for retaining employees in adapted jobs, but instead the sector is losing people who could have continued working at reduced hours – they’re just not given the opportunity,” says Steen Lund Olsen and continues: 

“It’s a paradox to see a sector that talks so much about adaptability, risk hedging and flexibility yet fails to use the tools available to retain people in times of hardship. It's not a special need – it's a modern way of working.”

Finansforbundet: Use the opportunities available! 

If the sector wants to retain more people and compete more effectively for manpower, it needs to gain a broader understanding of what work really looks like, finds Steen Lund Olsen. 

Moreover, structures, organisation and culture should be adapted to those life situations that no longer fit the mould of routine working patterns, underlines the Vice-President.  

“We must stop thinking of retention as an individual project. It’s an organisational responsibility. And we know that flexible structures work. We need a more inclusive perspective on work from the sector,” says Steen Lund Olsen. 

Employers: The comparison doesn’t hold true

Morten Schønning Madsen, CEO of Finance Denmark/Employer disagrees with the conclusions of the survey.

“It’s important to note that the analysis only compares ill with healthy employees, and unemployed with employed employees, in the financial sector. So, it doesn’t tell you how the sector is doing compared to other industries. It’s therefore wrong to conclude that the sector does not catch the employees who, for whatever reason, are not working for longer periods,” he says in a written statement, underlining that, in his view, companies are doing a lot to hold on to their employees. 

“Unfortunately, job matches do not always suit the situation of the employee and the needs of the company.”

Morten Schønning Madsen acknowledges that it is a loss when skilled employees leave the sector. 

“The employees who don’t return take their experience, specialist knowledge and relations with them. At the same time, it’s a basic condition that we cannot retain everyone. For some, unemployment becomes an opportunity to look for new industries or functions in which they can use their skills in different ways,” he writes.

Based on the analysis, Morten Schønning Madsen does not find it possible to conclude that the financial sector is less inclusive than other sectors. 

“The sector is continuously making efforts to create even more flexible and inclusive structures – at a time when every industry is short of manpower and where retention is becoming increasingly important”, says he.