Owners of financial planning firms are mindful of hiring the right person to build healthy culture and retain staff as well as create a good training environment for others, according to three diverse businesses.
Brisbane-based boutique firm Dalton Financial Partners has $2 million annual turnover and three offices employing 12 staff, headlined by three Certified Financial Planners who are backed by locally employed paraplanners and client service staff.
Principal Josh Dalton says his 11-year-old business, built from a solo practice, has developed a friendly staff culture reflected in low staff turnover where the average stay is five years thanks to a thorough hiring regimen which includes 600 questions.
“I don’t take people on face value now as most people will tell you what you want to hear [in a job interview],’’ Dalton tells Professional Planner.
“Our biggest challenge is going to be retaining and attracting talent. We have a team lunch every Monday and most people like to keep home separate and come into the office.”
He prefers to hire and train graduates which adds to the satisfaction of seeing them grow personally and professionally and build relationships with clients.
“It shouldn’t be growth at any cost as it can lead to a stressful and busy lifestyle and staff start leaving when things get out of balance,’’ he says.
While wage pressure is an issue, he says there is margin within his business to negotiate with employees on remuneration as the business grows.
Gianna Thomson, principal of Canberra-based low-client-to-adviser-ratio business Fitzpatricks Private Wealth, is about to employ a business development expert once her paraplanner returns to study.
Her first hire two years ago was to ensure she was “being there” for clients. Her new hire has more experience with client relationships and business development who will help expand her business.
As the solo planner, she outsources repetitive tasks such as applications forms and preparing engagement agreements to the Philippines which is less than half the cost of hiring a local client services worker and relies on an experienced bookkeeper for timely payments.
“For me, I’m not trying to save money, it’s about providing value and I’m scared of hiring the wrong person,” she says.
“I’ve spoken to other [business owners] and the number one issue they have is staffing issues. I want to keep [staff levels] small and be selective.”
Jenny Brown, founder and CEO of Melbourne-based JBS Financial Strategists, made the radical move to a remote business model in 2021, in response to Covid-19 restrictions.
“It’s working really well,” Brown says.
The 30-year business employs nine people in Australia, including three senior advisers and one provisional adviser, to cater for 170 full-service clients.
Brown says “paperwork is really onerous’’, prompting the firm to outsource to a paraplanner, two client services and one processing person in the Philippines. They connect with each other in the Philippines regularly but she is yet to meet them face-to-face.
About 60 per cent of the budget that was previously spent on office rental is now directed to staff development, she says.
Workplace culture is reinforced by messaging on Microsoft Teams, lots of online Zoom and Teams meetings and “catch ups” during the week. The firm has one face-to-face event every three weeks as well as Christmas and end of financial year lunches and a February planning retreat, she adds.
“Being remote, we really need to work at making sure our team has got processes and they’re not by themselves,’’ Brown says.
Client meetings can be scheduled at hired spaces, including rooms at a golf club and coffee shops as well as clients’ homes.
Brown says remote working is not for everybody with some staff choosing to leave when JBS moved to its remote model, but remaining staff liked the flexibility of working from home, particularly if they had young families.
“Those with families think it’s awesome and they can spend time coaching the basketball team,’’ she says.
This article was edited on 6 February 2023 to correct JBS Financial Strategists number of provisional advisers from three to one.
Thank you Meredith for your interesting article. We often recommend that practice owners pass ownership of procedures on to respective staff members to empower them to improve each procedure over time. Self-interest is a powerful force and if staff can make their activities more efficient they will improve procedures. You may attach improvements to their KPIs for further motivation. Toyota led the continuous improvement movement (kaizen) as they believed their staff were just not pairs of hands but knowledge workers who accumulate ‘chie’ (the wisdom of experience) and empowered staff to put forward ideas.
Mark Lewin