Career mobility scenarios for auditors: its takes time and a solid concept

One of the many great things in the Allianz Group is the structured concept of career mobility within the Group, called "2 out of 3". This article briefly describes this concept, explores how it translates for internal auditors, and discusses to what extent is this concept applicable to other corporations.

"2 out of 3"

Like many organizations, the Allianz Group has defined several solutions, not only to retain talent, but also ensure the growth and satisfaction of the employees in their career paths. These solutions include skill development programs, coaching or mentorship, performance and compensation management and regular feedback, flexible work arrangements, succession planning, and finally career path planning i.e. a career mobility concept.

When it comes to mobility, Allianz employees, and especially managers, are expected to be mobile. During their career, they should change two out of three dimensions:

- the "OE" (operating entity: Allianz has many business lines and companies),

- the function,

- or the geography.

This called the " 2 out of 3 " concept. It can be lived thanks to:

- the high level of integration of the Group: functions are comparable from one OE to another,

- a shared culture, a "blue" DNA: after all mobility is change and requires the right mindset,

- and advanced and integrated HR tools.

I am very grateful that I benefited from this concept: after 30 years in Allianz, I became "10 out of 3" after quite many careers moves with the Group!

What does it mean for internal auditors?

As Group CAE with 900 auditors, the career and mobility management of the existing auditor's community was one of my key tasks, together with the HR teams (talent attraction will be discussed in a future article). Auditor career mobility has two dimensions:

1. the mobility within the IA function:

Career auditors are the spine of the function in the sense that they perpetuate and develop the best audit techniques and approaches, acquire all relevant qualifications (CIA, CISA, CFE etc.), and constitute a strong network between the 40+ audit teams across the globe. Their career management is very important. They may stay in the function in Allianz for their entire career: the IA community is big enough. Yet they need to consider changing OE and geography - or both - while still being internal auditors. Development in seniority, from junior auditor to local CAE is not good enough. The task is not simple, especially when personal aspects need to be taken into consideration. I came up with 3 solutions:

- the change of OE in the same country. This is relatively easy, especially in Germany where there are several IA teams, including the Group Audit team, but also in the largest European entities and in the USA. The auditor stays in the function, may live in the same city (with sometimes remote office solutions), and just change the entity to be audited.

- The change of geography is the trickiest move. In many cases it means a personal move to a new location, but also a change of OE. With a few exceptions, this is more doable for colleagues that have little family constraints. Language and diversity can be a problem: I imposed a hiring criterion for IA - fluency in English - so that it easier to rotate in the future.

- "hybrid" solutions, where the rotation (OE or geography) is done only for a medium term of 6 to 24 months (a minimum of 6 months is required to comply with the "2 out of 3" concept). In most cases the auditor has arrangements to come "home" on a regular basis, which is doable and cost and tax manageable within Europe.

The relative complexity of career management with the audit function is one of the many reasons I have always targeted a 30/70 balance in the audit community: 30% of career auditors, 70% of auditors coming from the business and rotating back at some point to the business. This will be another article.

2. the rotation of auditors out of IA:

This is not so easy either to manage for two reasons: the sometimes – persistent image and biases in the business on IA profiles – and the resistance within internal audit to "lose" talents to the business:

- constantly improving the image of IA is a daily task. Thankfully Allianz has a good control and ethical culture. Yet the business does not spontaneously think of an auditor profile to fulfill open positions. A role of the Group CAE and of local CAEs is to advertise the profession internally, and to actively partner with HR and leadership,

- As CAEs, we need to have a sense of a higher and greater purpose than "just" the standing and performance of our function. This means that we also accept to "lose" the best of our talents to the business. I think that each rotation of an auditor to the business is a success story: in the long term, the more auditors go to the business, the more the IA function contributes to the enterprise ICS strength, with good people in the business who understand controls, and are promoters of internal audit. It helps to attract talents to IA and to create a "virtuous circle". In my view, one of the most mature and successful models in that sense remains the Inspection Générale of the Société Générale, one of the largest French banks.

Is this applicable to other corporations?

I do not see that what I have developed for IA in Allianz is very specific to the Group. Rather, there are some important conditions for a successful mobility management program: the size of the audit team, the geographical and business diversities of the organization, and its control culture. The level of integration of operating models, in the business and in IA, certainly make the mobility more manageable.

Finally, I would also encourage HR teams to move from the "2 out of 3" to a "3 out of 4" model - which I have failed to do in Allianz.

Besides OE, geography, and function, I think there is a 4th dimension for career mobility, which are the different business situations. Entities can be in very different situations: growth, optimization, restructuring, creation. The challenges and the skills for managers, but also for auditors, can be different in such business situations: this creates opportunities to put talents out of their comfort zone, and it helps managers and auditors to continue their life-long learning journey.

Career development and mobility are one of the most important - and exciting - tasks of a manager, and for a CAE. It is not easy, and this is precisely why we need to spend the necessary time to this strategic activity.