Gartner released data Wednesday on the main factors that attract and retain finance employees. If you’re familiar with the hits of ABBA, you already know the biggest one: “Money, Money, Money.”

That should surprise no one, since most of us work all day to pay the bills we have to pay. But what might drive home its importance is how few finance workers are content with their compensation: 43%. There’s no option for “I feel so-so” about pay, which means that 57% of those surveyed are not pleased with how much they’re making.

Finance workers who feel shortchanged are at higher risk of decamping for another job. “Compensation is usually the top attraction driver and one of the main challenges CFOs have with retaining talent,” Gartner’s Shannon Cole said in a press release.

Unsatisfied staff might be less of a worry if the job market weren’t so tight. But as Cole said, “finance employees have high confidence in the labor market right now.” And Gartner’s data, collected in the fourth quarter of 2023 from more than 1,100 finance employees based in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and Latin America, shows that the discontent is about more than pay. Less than half of employees (48%) are happy with their work-life balance, which Gartner ranks as the second-most important way to attract and retain workers. Of the top five ways, location (#3) was the only one more than half of employees (58%) were satisfied with.

Click here to continue reading.—GD

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It will come as no surprise as e-commerce surged during the pandemic that the country’s biggest retailers have leased or purchased plenty of real estate for warehouses and distribution centers.

While much of the space is used for the ever-growing volume of fulfillment and processing returns, there’s another reason major retailers are in the market for warehouse space.

Manufacturers traditionally have transported shipping containers of their products made in China and elsewhere to their own distribution centers (DCs), then shipped them to retailers’ stores or warehouses. But today, those containers increasingly are being shipped directly to retailers’ distribution centers. It’s a practice called direct import, and it’s created a need for more warehouse space for retailers while relaxing the need for such space from the retail brands they’re purchasing from.

One company that the direct-import surge is reshaping is Razor, the brand famous for the scooter it introduced in 2000, and whose products now include hoverboards, go-karts, and electric-powered ATVs and dirtbikes.

• In 2004, only 9% of Razor’s products were shipped from overseas factories directly to retailers’ distribution centers including Target, Amazon, and Walmart, according to data from Razor.
• In 2023, 83% of Razor’s products were shipped directly to retailers’ centers.

For more on how Razor moved to direct shipping, click here.—AAN

Robin Beichman Helfer is CFO and COO of Ashley Stewart. Before joining the plus-sized retailer in early 2023, she held the dual roles at both mattress company Casper and insulated water bottle company S’well. Helfer told CFO Brew how she developed her operations expertise and shared plans for the fast-fashion chain under new ownership.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Ashley Stewart was just acquired in April. Can you tell us about the acquisition and what you’re hoping the new investment [by Kinbow, an affiliate of RA Capital] will allow you to do?

I think that it really opens Ashley Stewart up to having additional capabilities, and for sure that’s on the manufacturing side because one of the businesses that is owned by the same owner [has] manufacturing capabilities in China, India, and Vietnam. So this helps give us a vertical integration arm that we did not have before. [That] not only opens up augmenting our assortment—it’s at a better price. In terms of some of our supply chain costs and infrastructure, I think they’re really going to be able to add value. I’ll also say that the strategy that [Kinbow] ha[s] articulated is to keep a balance between our e-commerce and store channels…whereas our prior leadership was more focused on growing e-commerce. I think that’s going to bode well for the franchise.

Click here to continue reading.—GD

See a CFO’s to-do list. A CFO’s day is anything but typical, but the most efficient ones do rely on routines. Oracle NetSuite is pulling back the curtain on what finance execs oversee, accomplish, and experience in their free business guide: The CFO’s Daily Checklist. Peep the 10 main to-dos here.

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