Certain sectors in Indonesia have thrived in 2024, leading to a sustained or strengthened demand for talent. Specifically, Aureen Na, Manager at Robert Walters Indonesia’s Commerce Finance division, calls out commodities, telecommunications, data center, agriculture and healthcare as industries that have witnessed interesting developments over the past year.

“The commodity industry rose dramatically due to coal and nickel prices in the last two years. These will likely peak and soften, but the industry is expected to remain strong, which will impact the FMCG sector slightly. The telecommunications and data center space is also flourishing due to an increased demand for the cloud, while agriculture remains strong due to Indonesia’s growing population and changes in the crude palm oil, and gas businesses,” she explains.

After the 2024 Indonesian legislative election (Pemilu), the market will likely see more liquidity, which will result in more lending.

Read on to find out more about Aureen’s expectations for Indonesia’s labour market and hiring trends for Accounting & Finance professionals in 2024.

Emerging trends in accounting and finance

A trend that has been on the rise is the digitalisation of B2B shared services, with Aureen foreseeing that more companies will adopt these services in 2024.

The remote work model is also here to stay, and Aureen also points out that there has been a stronger emphasis on environmental, social and governance (ESG), particularly among multinational corporations.

Looking ahead, companies might also do away with hybrid work, going for either remote work or full work-from-office models.

Lastly, Aureen also points to corporate action and digitalisation as other key hiring trends for accounting and finance professionals in 2024.

Corporate action, digital transformation and independent candidates in demand

Once the economy responds to the end of the Pemilu in the coming year, companies will likely restart their corporate action activities, specifically around mergers and acquisitions and restructuring. This will drive demand for talent with such expertise. Skillsets in digital transformation also remain a focus point for hiring teams. 

“Companies have started to shift their finance operations to shared service centres, so there will be many single contributor roles,” says Aureen.

As a result, hiring managers will be on the lookout for talent who can work autonomously.

For the year ahead, the most popular roles on the market are finance managers, chief financial officers (CFOs), and talent in corporate finance. 

Attract and retain talent with plumper roles

Reflecting on the past year, Aureen notes that talent attraction has become more of an uphill challenge for companies. “Many candidates prefer to stay in their current companies, and this was especially so in the first quarter of 2023, so talent retention has been less of an issue,” she says.

She also points to signs that there may be surge in hiring leading up to 2024. Against this backdrop, Aureen recommends that companies look at providing a wider job scope and more progression opportunities so they can attract and retain their talent. “This will help as candidates now tend to look for roles that allow them to cover end-to-end scopes,” she explains.

Competitive salary increments and flexible work arrangements are also advisable. 

Salaries to rise

In 2024, salaries are expected to rise in alignment with inflation and standard market rates.

Find out more

Request access to our 2024 Salary Survey to benchmark salaries and to find out more about key hiring trends in Indonesia.