Achieving staff retention in the fund industry will encompass the understanding of young peoples’ expectations, as well as keeping up with the professional needs of current employees, commented a panel on Talent, Leadership and Legacy at this year’s Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) Asset Management Conference.
The panel, moderated by Rachel Treece, CEO of corporate training company fts global and the Henka Institute, discussed both employers’ and employees' new expectations in a post-pandemic and increasingly digitalised world.
Steven Van Tuijl, managing director for Continental Europe at Vistra, said: “We need to be continually aware of standards and interests of future generations, if we want to keep the fund industry evolving and sustainable, it also means embracing opportunities around automating, working from home and offshoring certain roles.”
When discussing the fund industry in Luxembourg specifically, Tuiji added: “The Luxembourg fund industry is very expert-driven, but can probably seem to some young people as rather traditional and conservative. Employment and market expectations are so incredibly different now compared to that of the generations before us. We cannot expect the fund industry to attract the same type of talent if we do not create an environment that is attractive to that talent.”
Expanding on Van Tuijl’s answer, Isabelle Schlesser, director of Agence pour le développement de l’emploi (the state employment department in Luxembourg), highlighted: “Young people do not consider work as our generation considers work. The labour market looked drastically different, even just five to ten years ago.”
She added: “What are the skills a fund company will need in the future? Market authentication, orientation, customer authentication and digital skills — all the while the fund industry should not forget to develop the talents it already has, and the retention of that talent. It is imperative to make sure they can develop people and skills so that employees want to stay in Luxembourg, or the wider fund industry.”
Treece went on to ask the panel how the talent shortage in Luxembourg can be challenged.
Micaela Forelli, managing director Europe at M&G Investments, affirmed: “The fund industry can challenge the shortage with our fantastic industry know-how and collective effort by keeping connected. The fund industry can continue to be leading, but there will be new resources needed. Luxembourg is a small country already borrowing talent from other countries and importing talent.”
Van Tuijl said: “Unfortunately, by wanting to protect Luxembourg's position as an asset management domicile at the forefront of the world, it is a little closed off by being exactly that. We cannot stick our head in the sand on challenges of local resources, it comes back to opening up around automation — how we enable people to work outside Luxembourg but still ensure they are able to contribute to our strengths in fund management. It is a question of: ‘How do we make sure that offshoring works in an uncomplicated way?’”
Concluding the session, Treece asked the panellists to sum up what they thought should be the next step toward staff retention and increased acquisition.
Schlesser said: “Companies need the Luxembourg government to set up the right framework to enable the fund industry to create the right jobs — that can be done in the spirit of collaboration.”
