When advice businesses rely on leveraging loyalty by offering counteroffers after an employee is headhunted, the relationship often ends up drastically changing.
Kaizen Recruitment principal consultant Warren Corston tells Professional Planner it’s become quite common for employees to end up moving on even after taking a counteroffer to stay.
“What we’ve found is a majority of candidates end up considering a move again within six months after accepting a counteroffer and then within 18 months end up leaving,” Corston says.
“That’s usually driven by the fact that any promises made beyond the counteroffer being salary driven may have not come to fruition.”
More senior talent are more likely to want conversations around flexibility, ongoing salary reviews and payments. They also want to feel nurtured and looked after to want to stay in their role. “Senior talent want to know how much they mean to you,” Corston says.
“These conversations won’t always mean a salary increase, but people want to know that it’s actually been considered by management at least once or twice a year,” he says.
To keep younger employees happy, it’s important to understand that they expect formal conversations around their career every three months or so.
Corston says career development opportunities for young people also need to be clearly articulated, he says.
“You’ve got that clear and make sure you’re talking to them regularly about where they’re heading in their career,” Corston says.
The potential to undertake a professional year, team support and a clear pathway to becoming an adviser is also important, he says.
Bend but don’t break
Riva Recruitment director Fabian Ruggieri says being able to offer a hybrid work environment and an employee share scheme also resonates with employees in the current jobs market.
More established employees are more likely to bring conversations about their career to the table then leaving it up to the business, he adds.
“Senior advisers want to understand how a firm works on these fronts before they even go through the interview process,” Ruggieri says.
“Knowing whether a firm offers internal or external paraplanning services is a key consideration before they even give their time for an interview. I have seen some advisers leave because there has been a lack of support in a firm.”
He admits that it’s not easy for firms to offer support in the current jobs market. The talent shortage is forcing advisers to think about how to restructure their businesses to support their existing advisers and current clients better.
An example Ruggieri points to is outsourcing a lot of client service tasks or planning functions so that the adviser can just keep on top of the current clients that they have.
Knowing your worth
Fully qualified advisers are also interested in equity in the business and also to know the expense and time for continued professional development will be covered.
“The firms offering share schemes are highly sought after,” Ruggieri says. “When advisers are looking for a new opportunity, whether or not there’s an employee share scheme in place is a key question.
While employee share schemes aren’t common, they are what set firms apart, proving to be highly sought after.
Ruggieri recommends that advisers looking to move firms to see if there is clear evidence of employee shares changing hands, warning otherwise it’s unlikely to happen in the future.
If you’re thinking about a move, have a conversation with your current employer around remuneration if you are considering leaving, Ruggieri says.
In this market, a move can result in a decent salary hike. “I’ve seen people go from earning $120,000 to jump up to $150,000 or $160,000. Although it’s more common to receive a $15,000 or $20,000 increase when moving roles,” he says.
However, experienced female advisers are hard to find and as such command a premium in the market as firms work hard to hit their gender diversity benchmarks to meet client demand for both female and male advisers.
“Females are commanding around 20 per cent more than men for the same role, although overall data would show that makes are often earning more as advisers,” Ruggieri says.
