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By GlobalData
The need for a well managed recruitment strategy is more
important than ever as lessors continue their long round of job
cuts and restructurings.
Since the current credit crisis began to manifest itself within
the asset finance industry last year, Leasing Life has
reported a growing number of incidents of major business
restructuring with worryingly increasing frequency. Starting with
the closure to new business of Kaupthing and Bank of Ireland’s
London-based leasing arms in April, and the announcement of CIT and
the Cooperative initiating reviews of their leasing businesses,
things have only grown more ominous.
With Alliance & Leicester offering up to 300 voluntary
redundancies, some of which were in its asset finance department,
in May, and Landsbanki winding down leasing operations due to lack
of new business soon afterwards, a significant staffing crisis
across the industry seemed inevitable.
Now with RBS about to exit structured asset finance, HBOS
announcing 650 job losses over the coming 18 months and UniCredit
making plans to reduce business in Western Europe, it is an
opportune moment to reflect on staff deployment and recruitment
strategy in European leasing as a whole.
After years of sales led growth and prioritisation of new
business gains, the current economic slowdown has shaken confidence
in established recruitment strategies. How bad things will get, and
how long they will stay that way, remains to be seen though
everyone involved in recruitment within asset finance agrees that
the industry is entering a state of flux.
This report, covering a broad cross section of employers and
recruiters in European Asset Finance, gets an early look at the
decisions being made with regards to company structure and culture,
and identifies the developing expectations of employers and
recruitment professionals in an environment of uncertainty.
It reveals the pressures on staffing structures, and outlines
the recruitment objectives that companies have set themselves in
order to implement solutions.
Over the last few years, increases in sales support and back
office divisions are held to have only occurred in order to process
the acquisition of new business.The results of this survey will,
however, present the case that the demand for back office skills is
now leading recruitment policy.
Despite a year of high sales volumes across the industry, high
profits have not necessarily followed. Syscap, for example,
reported bumper growth for the last financial year but has had to
shed sales staff despite overall growth. This report will show that
in the developing climate more efficient use of existing business –
rather than acquisition of new – may be key to maintaining
profits.
Certainly, though, this mood of consolidation is not a universal
trend.To give just one example of a company going against the grain
in asset finance, one only has to look so far as Barclays Asset and
Sales Finance (BA&SF), which has been on a recruitment drive
since February to increase manpower. This is part of a strategic
move to increase the volume of leasing and asset finance deals in
the medium business segment.With plans to bring its sales team from
around 90 up to 160 by the end of the year, the expansion is seen
by many as a ploy to increase market share drastically in reaction
to other banks’ withdrawal from the marketplace.
There are other direct sales success stories, too. June’s
Leasing Life reported that Turnkey Solutions, the
infrastructure finance provider division of Bluestone Leasing,
doubled sales staffing in 2007 and intended similar levels of
growth in 2008.
Some companies, too, have seen neither growth nor
shrinkage in their leasing arms. HSBC, unique amongst respondents
for this survey, has reported completely unchanged staffing levels
over the last three years. However, it plans in the future to
downsize its back office and increase its sales force.
However, with news such as leasing giant GE Capital Solutions’
decision to cut its Swiss staff levels down by two thirds, at the
same time as initiating a major strategic review of UK staffing,
the question of how existing business is being managed both in the
UK and in Europe is taking the spotlight away from the previous
climate of new business hunting.
To ensure continued revenue growth within current company
structures, channels of business must be tightened and back office
mechanics such as asset evaluation and credit risk analysis
optimised. Staffing levels in back office and sales support
divisions are increasing more quickly than those in direct sales
divisions, and some traditionally back office skills are being
sought after in field sales staff.
As company structures change, so will company cultures. Across
the board, asset finance companies and recruitment agencies are
looking for a more personal, flexible approach to staff acquisition
and retention. Identifying the right candidates and retaining them
is gathering emphasis as a climate of caution decreases new hiring
opportunities.
Meanwhile, human resources, according to interviews with leasing
managers, should be focused on providing support in areas such as
legal and compliance allowing line managers to be more empowered to
take recruitment decisions, while staff referrals and agency
appointments are expected to gain ground on online recruitment as
pressure on HR builds.
Fred Crawley
