There is no job that is more important than others

interview paperjam.lu du 11.07.2023

3 Questions to Daniel Hilbert

What is your place in the Luxembourgish work landscape?

Today, BDO in Luxembourg employs more than 600 people, thus being one of the largest employers of the country. We are the service provider in Luxembourg with the broadest range of services, including audit, tax compliance and tax advisory, accounting and payroll services, as well as around 10 different lines of advisory services.

We are deeply rooted and attached to Luxembourg, and well aware of our responsibility not only towards our employees and our more than 5.000 clients, but also the country.

On the other hand, we employ people of more than 40 nationalities, and are part of a wider network which counts more than 111.000 staff present in 164 countries all over the world. In a way, BDO in Luxembourg is truly local and international at the same time – reflecting very much what makes Luxembourg today.

How do you help people to develop their talents in Luxembourg?

We are convinced that even in times of digitalisation and artificial intelligence, our people are our biggest asset as a service provider. In the end, it’s people and the relation of trust that they build with the clients that makes the difference.

The rapid evolution of technology does however mean that people have to adapt much quicker, and this is why it is of key importance for us to invest in the development of our employees.

In the last years, we have massively increased the number of trainings, reaching almost 40.000 hours of training in 2022. We also actively support our employees in their goals of achieving a professional qualification such as the “Réviseur d’Entreprises” or “Expert-Comptable”.

While our staff rotation is certainly lower than for many of our competitors, it’s clear also that well trained people are prime targets for recruiters, and hence we and our competitors provide a significant contribution to upskilling the Luxembourg workforce, and hence to the competitiveness of Luxembourg as a whole.

Do you agree with the old Chinese saying "It is easy to recruit a thousand soldiers, but it is difficult to find a general?" Would you have any advice for companies to attract and retain a unique talent?

I’m not a big fan of referring to generals and soldiers when talking about colleagues. Every person that works for a company is important, and there is no job that is more important than others. 

There is unfortunately not a single (simple) answer as to how to attract and retain talent. A competitive compensation package and offering as much flexibility as possible would be basic requirements – which will probably not allow you to make much of a difference.

People that you work with are probably the biggest retention factor. For us, this means having a clear set of values within our firm – and making sure we live those values of Honesty, Quality, Responsibility, Respect and Integrity every day. It means investing in people and their development, and giving everybody real opportunities to grow as a person and within BDO. It is about providing a stable and friendly work environment. In the context of ever more flexibility, we also try to make sure people can meet with their colleagues not only while working, but also through small and large team events which we organise throughout the year.