Deciding whether to hire more employees – even in the largest of companies – tends to evoke the classic chicken-and-egg situation. You can’t hire someone until you can afford another salary. You can’t afford another salary until your business has grown and you have more revenue. Your business won’t grow unless you hire someone.
You get where I’m going with this.
Advice abounds regarding this dilemma. A common maxim is calculate what your time is worth, then determine if the bottom line would be better served by offloading non-revenue-generating responsibilities to a new, lower-paid employee so others can focus on tasks with a higher rate of return.
Another good practice, as you probably know, is to hedge your bets by making a more conservative investment in a part-time or project-based employee.
But what if market pressures are forcing your hand? Often the decision about whether to hire is fueled by something going on outside the walls of your organization. Such as, “What’s the competition doing?” You might put yourself at a perilous disadvantage if you coast along in neutral when the competition is giving it the gas by staffing up.
Lately, the hiring authorities I consult with in my work as an executive recruiter say the decision to hire is driven by today’s increasingly regulatory climate. They’re staffing up (particularly in their compliance departments) not only to keep up with the rules and regs, but also because they recognize the importance of building an ethical culture from the ground up. That important process begins with having the right talent in the right places.
In other words, these savvy employers know that business growth can never come at the expense of managing risk. The inverse is also true: by managing risk, many companies are able to achieve a level of success in the marketplace that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Or, as Lori Queisser, EVP and Chief Compliance Officer for Teva Pharmaceuticals mentioned to me last week, “A strong compliance program provides us a competitive advantage.”
But back to the chicken and egg:
We at Conselium Executive Search grappled with that dilemma recently and have decided to hatch something that we are particularly pleased to announce. In response to the aforementioned market pressures – and in recognition that demand for highly trained compliance officers is skyrocketing – we are growing our practice. Conselium has just added Steve Harrison as a partner in the firm.
Steve’s track record of hiring exemplary professionals for banks, asset management firms, hedge funds and private equity firms perfectly complements Conselium’s global footprint as the leading executive search firm for compliance professionals. We have always specialized in serving clients in highly regulated industries like pharmaceuticals, medical device, health care delivery, financial services, chemical and oil and gas – so deepening our network in the financial sector is a logical extension for Conselium’s growth.
I encourage you to connect with Steve on LinkedIn and visit our website for more information about the firm and about how we help businesses develop a competitive advantage by making the best possible compliance hires.
And if your plan for the coming year includes hiring in compliance – give us a call.
Maurice Gilbert is Managing Partner of Conselium Executive Search, which specializes in placing Compliance Officers and Legal Counsel for clients in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Maurice is also CEO of Corporate Compliance Insights, a worldwide publication devoted to governance, risk and compliance issues. Maurice can be reached at maurice@conselium.com or maurice@corporatecomplianceinsights.com.
