When turnover rates rise, productivity stalls, hiring costs compound, and long-term planning falters. For CPOs and CFOs, alignment on recruitment strategy is essential.
According to Gallup, replacing an employee can cost up to 2x their annual salary, factoring in productivity loss, recruitment fees, onboarding, and the impact on team morale. In high-growth sectors like fintech, where speed and continuity are critical, the cost of getting it wrong scales quickly.
CPOs are tasked with shaping an engaged, high-performing workforce. CFOs are responsible for financial resilience and operational efficiency. Yet, both face the same threat when hiring is misaligned: churn.
When recruitment focuses on speed over strategy, companies risk cycling through talent that never truly integrates, costing time, resources, and reputation.
A LinkedIn Global Talent Trends report found that retention rates increase by 40% when organisations invest in strong candidate experiences and onboarding.
By collaborating early in the hiring lifecycle, CFOs and CPOs can embed rigour, forecast costs accurately, and reduce the downstream financial impact of turnover.
Five ways CFOs and CPOs can drive retention together together
1. Align on the true cost of hiring mistakes
Turnover affects productivity, employer brand, and growth projections. Jointly reviewing cost-per-hire, tenure data, and turnover drivers can inform smarter budget allocation and workforce planning.
2. Build clarity into role design
Misalignment between candidate expectations and actual job demands is one of the top drivers of early exits. Cross-functional collaboration ensures job specs are commercially viable and operationally accurate—reducing attrition risk.
Research shows that 33% of new hires leave within the first six months, often due to role misalignment or culture shock.
3. Hire for cultural contribution, not cultural fit
The goal isn’t to replicate what exists, it’s to build a stronger, more inclusive culture over time. By assessing how candidates’ values, perspectives, and behaviours can positively shape the organisation, hiring becomes a forward-looking investment in cultural growth, not just alignment.
Companies that prioritise cultural add over cultural fit report greater innovation and inclusion, both of which are critical drivers of long-term engagement.
4. Use data to predict retention
Track retention predictors like source of hire, onboarding engagement scores, and time-to-productivity. These metrics can help flag high-risk patterns before they impact headcount stability.
5. Treat onboarding as a strategic function
Retention starts with integration. CPOs and CFOs should co-sponsor onboarding programmes that are measurable, structured, and linked to broader business goals.
The Strategic Payoff
When CFOs and CPOs align, they move from reactive hiring to proactive workforce planning. They unlock the ability to:
Reduce hiring costs over time
Improve employee lifetime value
Enhance workforce continuity and culture cohesion
Drive long-term growth through retained capability
Reducing talent churn is a business performance imperative—not just a people issue. When Finance and People leaders operate in sync, hiring becomes a strategic lever for workforce resilience, not a recurring cost centre.
It’s time for CPOs and CFOs to make retention a shared KPI.