Building your employee value proposition: How to attract financial services talent

Economic headwinds are putting financial services organisations under ever more pressure. This, combined with talent shortages and large numbers of resignations in recent months, has led employers to re-evaluate their employee value propositions (EVPs) in a bid to compete in the race for talent. 

What is an employee value proposition? 

Your employee value proposition (EVP) is a measure of the value you offer to professionals considering joining your organisation. EVP is not just about salary, or even salary plus benefits. It's about everything that affects your desirability as an employer, including considerations like company culture and reputation.

At Michael Page Banking and Financial Services, we work closely with clients on their EVPs and have seen how the events of the last few years have elevated its importance for successful hiring. For instance:

  • The cost-of-living crisis has made remuneration a top candidate priority
  • Many candidates are reluctant to risk moving from a 'safe' role
  • Post-pandemic, candidates are seeking better work-life balance

To learn more about what they are looking for in an employer, and what makes them seek new opportunities, we surveyed hundreds of professionals working in financial services. Here, we'll present the key takeaways and discuss what they mean for your EVP.

Pull factors: What do financial services professionals want in a new job?

The pull factors within your EVP are the benefits and perks you can offer to applicants: the bargaining chips when negotiating a new hire.

Below, we summarise what financial services professionals said they look for when seeking a new job, highlighting the most common responses, as well as those that were significantly more important to financial services workers than to the average respondent.

Desired job attributes

To find out what elements of an EVP financial services professionals value beyond salary and benefits, we asked respondents to select the most important elements of a prospective job. Here were the top responses:

  • Work-life balance: Selected by 62% 
  • Job security: 51%
  • Good relationships with colleagues: 49%

Interestingly, we found that financial services professionals are significantly less likely to need a sense of purpose from their job. Just 40% said this is important to them, compared with an average of 48% of respondents across all sectors.

Eithne Hynes, Associate Director at Michael Page Financial Services, commented: 

Flexibility and hybrid working policies are at the centre of any strong employee value proposition in the financial services sector. Most candidates are looking to work two to three days in the office per week, and some only one.To change jobs in the current market, in-demand professionals also want to see a 15-20% base salary increase, with a competitive benefits package. A strong pension offering is also high on candidates' wish lists; we have seen that companies with lower pension contributions are at a disadvantage when attempting to secure the best talent. Of course, candidates take various factors into consideration when choosing between potential job offers. But hybrid working and financial remuneration are significant motivators, outweighing previously important considerations like brand and job title.

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Benefits

Benefits are a more tangible component of your EVP and can be highly influential in attracting people to your organisation. Our survey found that benefits are particularly important to financial services professionals, with the below coming out top: 

  • 28+ days' holiday: Selected by 51%
  • Company pension: 48%

Of the ten benefits we asked about, financial services professionals were more likely than average respondents to seek four of them:

  • Hybrid/flexible/remote working: Selected by 50% (survey average: 43%)
  • Significant bonuses: 38% (32%)
  • Medical insurance: 35% (27%)
  • Buy and sell holiday scheme: 24% (16%)

These are great examples of benefits which strengthen your EVP without driving up the salary you are offering, saving you money while enabling you to attract top candidates.

Perks

Perks are like benefits on a smaller scale. They might not single-handedly land you a high-profile applicant, but they can certainly tip the scale in your favour. Here are the most popular among financial services professionals:

  • Early finish on Fridays: Selected by 38%
  • Training opportunities: 35%
  • Well-designed offices: 31%

Perhaps unsurprisingly, we found that free financial advice is valued more by financial services employees than by the average worker. Nearly one in four (24%) said they find free financial advice to be an appealing proposition, compared with 18% across our survey as a whole.

Push factors: What drives financial services professionals away?

Your EVP is also key to retaining talent, and it's important to remember this. The perks and values you promote to existing employees might be different from the ones you offer to new applicants, but you need to show that you care about your current staff too.

Our survey showed that financial services professionals have been in their role for an average of 6.8 years, a little below the overall average of 7.2 years for all sectors. The 'itchy feet' moment when financial services employees start looking for new employment opportunities comes after just 17 months, slightly below the average of 19 months, and less than a year and a half.

The most common reasons given by financial services professionals for seeking new roles were:

  • Feeling underpaid: Selected by 22%
  • Worsening working conditions (22%)
  • Didn't feel valued for their contribution (19%)
  • Job too stressful (19%)
  • Job not as expected (19%)
  • Too many working hours (19%)
  • No opportunities for progression (19%)

All of these reasons were cited by about one in five financial services employees in our survey, highlighting how much of your workforce you could reach by tackling even one of the above.

With lack of salary satisfaction coming joint first in the list of issues most likely to compel a financial services professional to seek greener grass, it’s essential to stay up to date with salary benchmarks in the space. 

Check out our free 2023 Guide to Salaries and Hiring Strategy in Financial Services salary guides for the latest market data.

What next?

Our survey found that after their first 'itchy feet' moment, financial services professionals typically start looking for alternative employment within five months, and find a new job in less than four. Clearly, it should be a priority for employers to both minimise turnover and attract talent when they need to. 

Whatever your talent needs, we have a team on hand to help. Our Page Consulting team specialises in workforce planning and helping organisations build their EVPs. When it comes to hiring, we have finance and financial services-specific teams operating across multiple levels of the job market: 

Michael Page for qualified professional and management level roles.
Page Personnel for professional clerical and support roles. 
Page Executive for executive level roles. 
Page Outsourcing for custom volume hiring solutions.  

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