Original Research
Global hiring shouldn’t cost you $1M in losses.Yet 22% of CFOs say it has.
We surveyed 400 CFOs in the US and UK about global hiring. They told us they're prepared — their hiring activity tells a different story.
Trusted by 1,500+ organizations around the world
Confidence is strong.
So why isn't the hiring?
Global hiring decisions sit firmly in the CFO's remit. The approval, the budget, the risk exposure, the compliance liability — finance leaders own all of it. And by every measure of self-assessment, they feel ready. Nearly every CFO we surveyed described their organization as interested, investing, or actively scaling its global workforce.
But confidence and execution are two different things. When we looked beyond what CFOs said about their readiness and into what their organizations are doing — and what it has cost them — a more complicated picture emerged.
That gap — between how prepared CFOs say they are to hire globally, and the complex realities they face — is what this report is about. We're calling it the CFO Confidence Paradox, and understanding it is the first step toward closing it.
CFOs say their organizations are
- 47%Confident, well-structured, and actively scaling their global workforce
- 35%Investing in global hiring but still refining their processes and approach
- 15%Interested in global hiring but face challenges around cost, risk, or complexity
- 3%Only pursue global hiring when necessary or avoid it outright
Interest is near-universal
97% of CFOs say their organization is interested, investing, or actively engaged in global hiring.
CFOs from both the UK and US report that their organization is interested, if not actively engaged, in global hiring. Slightly more US CFOs than UK CFOs say their company is well structured and actively scaling their global workforce. But it's clear that both groups see global hiring as critical for their company's competitiveness.
But the hiring isn't following
Only 22% have plans to hire globally in the next six months.
This is where the paradox becomes visible. CFOs report that their organization is interested in global hiring. Only 3% said otherwise. Furthermore, 96% of CFOs said their company is prepared to hire globally. But if they're interested and prepared, why are 37% decreasing global hiring, prioritizing domestic hiring or international hiring, or both? Why aren't more than 22% planning to hire overseas in the next six months?
Restraint in hiring reported by CFOs
- 37%of CFOs said their organization is prioritizing domestic hiring over international hiring, planning to decrease cross-border hiring, or both.
- 22%of CFOs — a surprisingly low figure — said their organization has plans to hire globally in the next six months.
Reported losses from noncompliance
CFOs reported losses of up to $1M USD
- UK86%
- US70%
- OVERALL78%
CFOs reported losses of $1M USD or more
- UK14%
- US30%
- OVERALL22%
And the cost of getting it wrong is real
Every company we surveyed has suffered losses from noncompliance.
The report highlights causes for the restraint in global hiring that CFOs report, including operational challenges, geopolitical disruption, and financial losses caused by noncompliance.
Download the report to find out what CFOs said about each of these factors as well as how significant their compliance-related losses were.
Why this matters for finance leaders
For CFOs, global hiring is a cost and risk decision before it's a talent one. But confidence without visibility is exposure. Without a clear view of country-level spend, compliance obligations, and currency and payroll complexity, the savings that CFOs achieved can be washed away. This report gives you the numbers to pressure-test your own assumptions, benchmark against 400 peers, and build a board-ready view of where global workforce risk really sits.
Inside the report
The CFO Confidence Paradox report draws on survey responses from 400 finance leaders across the US and UK to examine how organizations are approaching global hiring, where confidence is holding up under scrutiny, and where the gaps between stated readiness and actual outcomes are widest. Here's what you'll find inside:
- 1
The confidence CFOs report and where it's justified
- 2
The restraint beneath it: What CFOs are actually planning to do
- 3
The real risks of global hiring: Compliance, geopolitical disruption, and operational
- 4
The US vs UK risk gap: Two markets, two very different risk profiles
- 5
How to close the gap between confidence and restraint
"The challenges CFOs face in managing global hiring — from both inside and outside their organizations — are only becoming more complex. While they're confident in their ability to manage cross-border hiring and capitalize 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."
Florence Cazemajou-Flint
Chief Financial Officer, Safeguard Global
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