Developing and retaining talent is a challenge for any treasury department. Even though the U.S. job market is still struggling, an individual with the right combination of education and experience can be a hot commodity. How do you attract the right people? And once you find them, how do you keep them from straying to greener pastures once they've gained some expertise asks Andrew Deichler in his article in AFP Online, which describes Microsoft treasury's approach?

Microsoft's treasury department has a unique approach. Treasury employees are exposed to a broad spectrum of responsibilities, in order to further their careers in ways that they probably never expected. Nevertheless, that extra experience is often what keeps them moving forward.

They recruit the 'best and brightest' candidates (not the most experienced) because they believe that the new staff can 'figure it (treasury) out' for themselves. Then they grow their new employees by encouraging self developments, providing a range of training programmes combined with a wide range of experiences and secondments.

Microsoft treasury retain staff by helping them move to a different role, either in treasury or in the broader finance organization.