Noncompliance confounds CFOs' global hiring

This disconnect highlights a broader CFO paradox between high confidence and significant growth challenges, causing CFOs to pause expansion. Facing geopolitical conflict, an ever-changing compliance landscape, and economic uncertainty, CFOs’ global hiring actions do not match their enthusiasm.

Most notably, every CFO surveyed – 100% of CFO respondents – admitted their organisation had suffered financial losses due to noncompliance when expanding globally. More than three-quarters (78%) of CFOs reported losing up to $1M, and 22% reported losing over $1M in noncompliance-related losses when expanding globally. Breaking it down across countries:

• 30% of US CFOs reported losses of $1M USD or more.
• 14% of UK CFOs reported losses of $1M USD or more.
• 70% of US CFOs reported losses of up to $1M USD.  
• 86% of UK CFOs reported losses of up to $1M USD.

While financial losses from noncompliance are a major reason organisations pause global hiring, the report also revealed that headwinds from geopolitical conflict have contributed to their hesitation, as they’ve increased budget to support employee relocation (38%), delayed or reduced hiring in affected regions (36%), and increased contingency or buffer budgets (36%). Additionally:

Two in five (40%) CFOs said geopolitical disruption has made their organisation more cautious about hiring globally.

More than a third (38%) reported that it has hindered their company’s ability to expand.

Nearly one in five (19%) have relocated an existing employee to another country due to geopolitical conflict in the last 12 months.

These challenges have contributed to an overall reluctance among CFOs to actively pursue global expansion. More than a third (37%) of CFOs said their organisation is prioritising domestic hiring over international hiring, planning to decrease cross-border hiring, or both. Just 22% of CFOs said their organisation has plans to hire globally, in the next six months.

Specifically, CFOs across both countries identified a variety of situations that created operational difficulties during global expansion.

• Making a first hire in a new country
• Testing hiring in a new country before deciding whether to expand there
• Managing workforce changes linked to an acquisition, merger, or restructure
• Supporting short-term, project-based, or seasonal hiring across countries
• Fixing or reviewing an overseas employment arrangement because of compliance concerns
  

​​​​​​​The challenges CFOs face in managing global hiring — from both inside and outside their organisations — are only becoming more complex. While they are confident in their ability to manage cross-border hiring and capitalise on global opportunities, many may underestimate the resources needed to navigate the realities of international employment. That's the CFO confidence paradox in a nutshell: confidence is high, but execution remains difficult. To bridge the gap, CFOs need more than confidence — they need the right support to simplify compliance, reduce risk, and scale global hiring with certainty.

When asked what would enhance CFOs’ ability to handle the complexities of global hiring, the top three responses were: help with local contracts, payroll, or benefits; clear, country-specific compliance guidance; and the ability to achieve faster onboarding timelines. Support and guidance from in-country global employment experts can reduce the challenges of global hiring and help CFOs translate their confidence into action.